Unexpected crystalline homogeneity from the disordered bond network in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>La</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">C</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">r</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">M</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">n</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">F</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">e</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">C</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">o</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">N</mml:mi><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">i</mml:mi><mml:mrow><mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">O</mml:mi><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:mrow></mml:math> films
Matthew Brahlek, Alessandro R. Mazza, Krishna Chaitanya Pitike, Elizabeth Skoropata, Jason Lapano, Gyula Eres, Valentino R. Cooper, T. Zac Ward
Abstract
The ability to host five or more cations on a sublattice within a single crystal oxide offers new opportunities to design materials with tailored bonding environments and functional properties. La(Cr${}_{0.2}$Mn${}_{0.2}$Fe${}_{0.2}$Co${}_{0.2}$Ni${}_{0.2}$)O${}_{3}$, which straddles the phase-boundary between orthorhombic and rhombohedral, is expected to exhibit a tremendous level of local distortion. Despite this, La(Cr${}_{0.2}$Mn${}_{0.2}$Fe${}_{0.2}$Co${}_{0.2}$Ni${}_{0.2}$)O${}_{3}$ is found to exhibit a surprisingly well-ordered lattice, which homogeneously favors the orthorhombic phase. The observation of long-range order that emerges out of a configurationally complex local bonding environment suggests unforeseen cooperative effects at play in entropy stabilized materials.