Electron Doping BaZrO3 via Topochemical Reduction

Published

June 19, 2019

Author(s)

Thomas Orvis, Mythili Surendran, Yang Liu, Shanyuan Niu, Shinichiro Muramoto, Alexander Grutter, Jayakanth Ravichandran

Abstract

We report the topochemical reduction of epitaxial thin films of the cubic perovskite BaZrO₃. Reduction with calcium hydride yields n-type conductivity in the films, despite the wide bandgap and low electron affinity of the parent material. X-ray diffraction studies show concurrent loss of out-of-plane texture with stronger reducing conditions. Temperature dependent transport studies on reduced films show insulation behavior (decreasing resistivity with increasing temperature) with a combination of thermally activated and variable range hopping transport mechanisms. Time-dependent conductivity studies show that the films are stable over short periods, with chemical changes over the course of weeks leading to an increase in electrical resistance. Neutron reflectivity and secondary ion mass spectrometry indicate the source of the carriers is most likely hydrogen incorporated from the reducing agent occupying oxygen vacancies and/or interstitial sites. Our studies introduce topochemical reduction as a viable pathway to electron dope and meta0stabilize low electron affinity and work function materials.

Citation

ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

Volume

11

Issue

24

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Perovskite, Oxide, Reduction, Thin Film, Doping

Citation

Orvis, T. , Surendran, M. , Liu, Y. , Niu, S. , Muramoto, S. , Grutter, A. and Ravichandran, J. (2019), Electron Doping BaZrO₃ via Topochemical Reduction, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=927878 (Accessed October 13, 2025)