X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of irradiation-induced amorphizaton of Gd2Ti2O7

The radiation-induced evolution of the microstructure of Gd2Ti2O7, an important pyrochlore phase in radioactive waste disposal ceramics and a potential solid electrolyte and oxygen gas sensor, has been characterized using transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Following the irradiation of a Gd2Ti2O7 single crystal with 1.5 MeV Xe+ ions at a fluence of 1.7x10(14) Xe+/cm(2), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy revealed a 300-nm-thick amorphous layer at the specimen surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the Ti 2p and O 1s electron binding energy shifts of Gd2Ti2O7 before and after amorphization showed that the main results of ion-irradiation-induced disorder are a decrease in the coordination number of titanium and a transformation of the Gd-O bond. These features resemble those occurring in titanate glass formation, and they have implications for the chemical stability and electronic properties of pyrochlores subjected to displacive radiation damage. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.