Abstract
TO understand the properties and behaviour of inorganic non-stoichiometric compounds it is vital to know how the stoichiometric imbalance in the material is accommodated structurally. It has been usual to assume that point defect populations have been solely responsible for such departures from the normal stoichiometric formula. But, recent structural investigations have shown that for a growing number of materials this does not seem to be true and instead changes in the anion–cation ratio are accommodated by planar faults. This report points out that an empirical correlation seems to exist between the magnitude of the low frequency dielectric constant of a compound and the structural mode by which it accommodates its non-stoichiometry. Those materials with a low dielectric constant are found to prefer point defect populations, while those with a high dielectric constant prefer planar faults. Some reasons why this correlation should hold are suggested.
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TILLEY, R. Correlation between dielectric constant and defect structure of non-stoichiometric solids. Nature 269, 229–231 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269229a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/269229a0
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