In the literature I found several different variants of the phase diagram of the binary system La2O3 – Ta2O5. With the help of the ICSD, PDF-2 and PDF-4+ databases, I collected data on the unit cell dimensions, space group, sample type and diffractograms of the lanthanum tantalum oxides in them. The purpose of the work was to determine which of these compounds exists in this system at 1350 °C.
I analyzed X-ray powder diffraction patterns of oxide samples using computer programs. The samples were synthesized at the Jožef Stefan Institute by sintering a mixture of La2O3 and Ta2O5 at 1350 °C. I used the Crystallographica Search-Match (CSM) program for qualitative analysis. With the ICSD-Desktop program, I searched for the corresponding structural models for the identified phases, with the help of which I performed a quantitative analysis of the samples with the TopasR2-1 program, while using Rietveld refinement to refine the zero error, the scale factor, the cell parameters, the size of the crystallites and the crystal strain for each crystalline phase present in the sample. Since there is no structural model for the compound LaTa5O14 in any database, I used the model of the isostructural compound LaNb5O14 for the quantitative analysis, replacing the niobium atom with tantalum atom and in this case also adjusting the coordinates of the atoms. I also displayed the crystal structures that were present in the samples using the ATOMS V6.4 program.
In the binary system La2O3 – Ta2O5, orthorhombic La3TaO7, orthorhombic LaTaO4, tetragonal LaTa3O9, hexagonal LaTa7O19, orthorhombic LaTa5O14 are present at 1350 °C. We also observed orthorhombic La4,67Ta22O62. In the phase diagrams of the binary system La2O3 – Ta2O5 published so far, this substance was not mentioned, but it is described in the form of a single crystal at 1685 °C. It does not always appear in our samples when we would expect it based on the composition of the sample. So far, we have not been able to explain this unrepeatability.
|