Fepo3 Lab Report

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PARAGRAPH 1
FePo4 belongs to α-quartz SiO2 isotypes where its structural and piezoelectric properties are studied intensively. The elastic and piezoelectric properties are greatly linked to its tetrahedral structural units and which can change in accordance to the temperature it is exposed to. At an exposed temperature range of 290k to 1070k, we examine the structural evolution of FePo4. When exposed to low temperature, FePo4 retains its structure of α-quartz that is tetrahedral in nature. (refer to diagram A) . At higher temperatures, FePo4 changes to octahedral structure after undergoing a phase change. It is now in β-phase with transition temperature of 980k. In the process of first order transition, irregular changes to FePo4 occur. The cell parameters and volume does not increase proportionally to the increase in temperature. Thermal …show more content…

Figure 1 : Crystal structure comparison involving FePo4

PARAGRAPH 2
With a transitional temperature of 980k, FePo4 undergoes an structural phase change from α- phase to β-phase. That is , below 980k , FePo4 is in α- phase and after 980k, FePo4 will be in β-phase. In α- phase, it exhibits trigonal unit cell and β-phase FePo4 exhibits hexagonal unit cell .

From the table , we can see that temperature increase will lead to changes in the crystal. As the cell parameter increase, it will result in the increase in cell volume. A preferential expansion along a particular direction is also spotted as such the c/a ratio decrease while temperature increase. All these results in expansion and increase of Fe-O-P bond.

As the temperature approaches phase transition value, the structural parameters for α- phase starts to approach the structural parameters for β-phase FePo4 and this results in a increasing similarity of β- quartz phase for FePo4. Phase transition from α- phase to β-phase occurs. As shown in the below

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