Electron crystallography application

What is it about?

This article presents a simple framework to determine the Bravais lattice type and unit-cell parameters of any compound by using electron diffraction patterns and high-resolution (scanning) TEM micrographs. The paper is roughly divided into two sections: 1) Bravais lattice identification and a rough estimate of unit-cell parameters by using single-crystal electron diffraction patterns and 2) Refining these parameters by analyzing HR(S)TEM micrographs using Gaussian type fitting functions. The method is applied to two compounds 1) TiNiSi (reported in the literature previously to check the validity of the method) and 2) Ni5Pb2Te3 (reported for the first time in this paper)

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Photo by Michal Matlon on Unsplash

Photo by Michal Matlon on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Finding the Bravais lattice (crystal structure) of any compound is the first and foremost step in understanding its utility, and scientific behavior, which determines its application domain. The most common and definitive way of finding this is by gathering X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks from the compound under study. Such data require samples to phase pure, bulk quantity, and physically stable. However, these conditions are often not fulfilled in many material sciences cases. For example, in a multiphase environment, the volume fraction is less than the detectable volume in XRD experiments, nanosized crystals. In these cases, the current method shows a simple method to solve this material science problem.