TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė A1 - Bustamante, Joana A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Stawski, Tomasz A1 - George, Janine A1 - Knoop, F. T1 - High-quality zirconium vanadate samples for negative thermal expansion (NTE) analysis N2 - Zirconium vanadate (ZrV2O7) is a well-known negative thermal expansion (NTE) material which exhibits significant isotropic contraction over a broad temperature range (~150°C < T < 800°C). The linear thermal expansion coefficient of ZrV2O7 is −7.1×10-6 K-1. Therefore, it can be used to create composites with controllable expansion coefficients and prevent destruction by thermal shock. Material characterization, leading to application, requires pure, homogenous samples of high crystallinity via a reliable synthesis route. While there is a selection of described syntheses in the literature, it still needs to be addressed which synthesis route leads to truly pure and homogenous samples. Here, we study the influence of the synthesis methods (solid-state, sol-gel, solvothermal) and their parameters on the sample's purity, crystallinity, and homogeneity. The reproducibility of results and data obtained with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis (DSC/TGA) were analyzed extensively. The sol-gel method proves superior to the solid-state method and produces higher-quality samples over varying parameters. Sample purity also plays an important role in NTE micro and macro-scale characterizations that explain the impact of porosity versus structural changes. Moreover, we implement ab-initio-based vibrational computations with partially treated anharmonicity (quasi-harmonic approximation, temperature-dependent effective harmonic potentials) in combination with experimental methods to follow and rationalize the negative thermal expansion in this material, including the influence of the local structure disorder, microstructure, and defects. Khosrovani et al. and Korthuis et al., in a series of diffraction experiments, attributed the thermal contraction of ZrV2O7 to the transverse thermal motion of oxygen atoms in V-O-V linkages. In addition to previous explanations, we hypothesize that local disorder develops in ZrV2O7 crystals during heating. We are working on the experimental ZrV2O7 development and discuss difficulties one might face in the process as well as high-quality sample significance in further investigation. The obtained samples are currently used in the ongoing research of structure analysis and the negative thermal expansion mechanism. T2 - TDEP2023: Finite-temperature and anharmonic response properties of solids in theory and practice CY - Linköping, Sweden DA - 21.08.2023 KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Solid-state KW - Ab-initio KW - TDEP PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58135 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė A1 - Bustamante, Joana A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Stawski, Tomasz A1 - George, Janine A1 - Knoop, F. T1 - High-quality zirconium vanadate samples for negative thermal expansion (NTE) analysis N2 - Zirconium vanadate (ZrV2O7) is a well-known negative thermal expansion (NTE) material which exhibits significant isotropic contraction over a broad temperature range (~150°C < T < 800°C). The linear thermal expansion coefficient of ZrV2O7 is −7.1×10-6 K-. Therefore, it can be used to create composites with controllable expansion coefficients and prevent destruction by thermal shock. Material characterization, leading to application, requires pure, homogenous samples of high crystallinity via a reliable synthesis route. While there is a selection of described syntheses in the literature, it still needs to be addressed which synthesis route leads to truly pure and homogenous samples. Here, we study the influence of the synthesis methods (solid-state, sol-gel, solvothermal) and their parameters on the sample's purity, crystallinity, and homogeneity. The reproducibility of results and data obtained with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis (DSC/TGA) were analyzed extensively. The sol-gel method proves superior to the solid-state method and produces higher-quality samples over varying parameters. Sample purity also plays an important role in NTE micro and macro-scale characterizations that explain the impact of porosity versus structural changes. Moreover, we implement ab-initio-based vibrational computations with partially treated anharmonicity (quasi-harmonic approximation, temperature-dependent effective harmonic potentials) in combination with experimental methods to follow and rationalize the negative thermal expansion in this material, including the influence of the local structure disorder, microstructure, and defects. Khosrovani et al. and Korthuis et al., in a series of diffraction experiments, attributed the thermal contraction of ZrV2O7 to the transverse thermal motion of oxygen atoms in V-O-V linkages. In addition to previous explanations, we hypothesize that local disorder develops in ZrV2O7 crystals during heating. We are working on the experimental ZrV2O7 development and discuss difficulties one might face in the process as well as high-quality sample significance in further investigation. The obtained samples are currently used in the ongoing research of structure analysis and the negative thermal expansion mechanism. T2 - 4th International Symposium on Negative Thermal Expansion and Related Materials (ISNTE-4) CY - Padua, Italy DA - 04.07.2023 KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Solid-state KW - Ab-initio KW - TDEP PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58132 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė A1 - Bustamante, Joana A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Stawski, Tomasz A1 - George, Janine A1 - Knoop, F. T1 - High-quality zirconium vanadate samples for negative thermal expansion (NTE) analysis N2 - Zirconium vanadate (ZrV2O7) is a well-known negative thermal expansion (NTE) material which exhibits significant isotropic contraction over a broad temperature range (~150°C < T < 800°C). The linear thermal expansion coefficient of ZrV2O7 is −7.1×10-6 K-. Therefore, it can be used to create composites with controllable expansion coefficients and prevent destruction by thermal shock. Material characterization, leading to application, requires pure, homogenous samples of high crystallinity via a reliable synthesis route. While there is a selection of described syntheses in the literature, it still needs to be addressed which synthesis route leads to truly pure and homogenous samples. Here, we study the influence of the synthesis methods (solid-state, sol-gel, solvothermal) and their parameters on the sample's purity, crystallinity, and homogeneity. The reproducibility of results and data obtained with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis (DSC/TGA) were analyzed extensively. The sol-gel method proves superior to the solid-state method and produces higher-quality samples over varying parameters. Sample purity also plays an important role in NTE micro and macro-scale characterizations that explain the impact of porosity versus structural changes. Moreover, we implement ab-initio-based vibrational computations with partially treated anharmonicity (quasi-harmonic approximation, temperature-dependent effective harmonic potentials) in combination with experimental methods to follow and rationalize the negative thermal expansion in this material, including the influence of the local structure disorder, microstructure, and defects. Khosrovani et al. and Korthuis et al., in a series of diffraction experiments, attributed the thermal contraction of ZrV2O7 to the transverse thermal motion of oxygen atoms in V-O-V linkages. In addition to previous explanations, we hypothesize that local disorder develops in ZrV2O7 crystals during heating. We are working on the experimental ZrV2O7 development and discuss difficulties one might face in the process as well as high-quality sample significance in further investigation. The obtained samples are currently used in the ongoing research of structure analysis and the negative thermal expansion mechanism. T2 - 16th International conference on materials chemistry (MC16) CY - Dublin, Ireland DA - 03.07.2023 KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Solid-state KW - Ab-initio KW - TDEP PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58134 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė T1 - How experimental and computational methods allow us to design negative thermal expansion materials N2 - Combined experimental and computational methods allow comprehensive understanding, design, and tailoring of material properties. We focus on a well-known negative thermal expansion (NTE) material, zirconium vanadate (ZrV2O7), and address synthesis, characterisation and validation of results with computational simulations. Experimental and computational X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy data highlighted differences between phase-pure and multiphase ceramics. These techniques allowed us to distinguish subtle differences in the structure of the material. Based on ab initio simulated phonon data, unaffected by impurities or instrumental errors, we could interpret the Raman spectra and visualise Raman active atom vibrations. These computational models allowed better insight and further experimental improvement while high-quality experimental data granted the validation and improvement of computational simulation strategy. T2 - Application of Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation in Engineering Materials Science CY - Hamburg, Germany DA - 23.03.2025 KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Ab initio KW - Raman KW - XRD PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-62832 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė T1 - How experimental and computational methods allow us to design negative thermal expansion materials N2 - Combined experimental and computational methods allow comprehensive understanding, design, and tailoring of material properties. We focus on a wellknown negative thermal expansion (NTE) material, zirconium vanadate (ZrV2O7), and address synthesis, characterisation and validation of results with computational simulations. Experimental and computational X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy data highlighted differences between phase-pure and multiphase ceramics. These techniques allowed us to distinguish subtle differences in the structure of the material. Based on ab initio simulated phonon data, unaffected by impurities or instrumental errors, we could interpret the Raman spectra and visualise Raman active atom vibrations. These computational models allowed better insight and further experimental improvement while high-quality experimental data granted the validation and improvement of computational simulation strategy. T2 - SALSA Make and Measure 2024 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 11.09.2024 KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Ab initio KW - Raman KW - XRD PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61358 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė T1 - Structural evolution of ZrV2O7: supercell persistence revealing local and global structure duality N2 - In the AM2O7 family of negative thermal expansion materials (NTE), evidence of supercell at room temperature was reported following the Völlenke et al. discovery of missed superlattice due to the apparent linearity of the M-O-M bond in GeP2O7. Korthuis et al. and Khosrovani et al. demonstrated it to be true for cubic ZrV2O7 as well. It was concluded that at room temperature, the structure consists of 27 'subcells' with bent M2O7 groups that appear to form a linear configuration due to refinement of averaged position. However, around 100 °C, the transition to the “parent” cell was reported, where the cell volume increases, and the M-O-M angles are constrained by the Pa-3 space group symmetry to be 180°. We followed structural changes in the ZrV2O7 at high temperatures to demonstrate partial disorder within the crystal, local and global structural duality and supercell persistence at high temperatures. Total scattering measurements and Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis revealed that the experimental pattern cannot be fitted with the “parent structure” model, and only the 3×3×3 supercell model can correspond to local and global structures throughout the full 25-700 °C temperature range. We also show how short and long-range order within the crystal changes when approaching the phase transition, which might indicate the existence of coherent structural domains that evolve between order and disorder with increasing temperature. We further hypothesize how this can be related to the negative thermal expansion mechanism and the interpretation of structure solutions presenting data from high-temperature X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) measurements. T2 - 5th International Symposium on Negative Thermal Expansion and Related Materials (ISNTE-5) CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 29.07.2025 KW - NTE KW - Ab initio KW - PDF KW - CSM PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63874 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė A1 - Bustamante, Joana A1 - Karafiludis, Stephanos A1 - Zöllner, Moritz A1 - Eddah, Mustapha A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - George, Janine A1 - Stawski, Tomasz M. T1 - Synthesis and phase purity of the negative thermal expansion material ZrV2O7 N2 - Synthesis of pure, homogeneous, and reproducible materials is key for the comprehensive understanding, design, and tailoring of material properties. In this study, we focus on the synthesis of ZrV2O7, a material known for its negative thermal expansion properties. We investigate the influence of solid-state and wet chemistry synthesis methods on the purity and homogeneity of ZrV2O7 samples. Our findings indicate that different synthesis methods significantly impact the material's characteristics. The solid-state reaction provided high-purity material through extended milling time and repeated calcination cycles, while the sol-gel reaction enabled a “near-atomic” level of mixing and, therefore, homogenous phase-pure ZrV2O7. We confirmed purity via X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, highlighting differences between phase-pure and multiphase ceramics. These analytical techniques allowed us to distinguish subtle differences in the structure of the material. Based on ab initio simulated phonon data, we were able to interpret the Raman spectra and visualise Raman active atom vibrations. We show that phase purity enables the unbiased characterisation of material properties such as negative thermal expansion. KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Solid-state KW - Ab-initio KW - XRD KW - Raman PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-624013 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d4tc04095c SN - 2050-7534 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-62401 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - INPR A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė ED - Bustamante, Joana ED - Karafiludis, Stephanos ED - Zöllner, Moritz ED - Eddah, Mustapha ED - Emmerling, Franziska ED - Mieller, Björn ED - George, Janine ED - Stawski, Tomasz T1 - Synthesis and phase purity of the negative thermal expansion material ZrV2O7 N2 - Synthesis of pure, homogeneous, and reproducible materials is key for the comprehensive understanding, design, and tailoring of material properties. In this study, we focus on the synthesis of ZrV2O7, a material known for its negative thermal expansion properties. We investigate the influence of solid-state and wet chemistry synthesis methods on the purity and homogeneity of ZrV2O7 samples. Our findings indicate that different synthesis methods significantly impact the material's characteristics. The solid-state reaction provided high-purity material through extended milling time and repeated calcination cycles, while the sol-gel reaction enabled a “near-atomic” level of mixing and, therefore, homogenous phase-pure ZrV2O7. We confirmed purity via X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, highlighting differences between phase-pure and multiphase ceramics. These analytical techniques allowed us to distinguish subtle differences in the structure of the material. Based on ab initio simulated phonon data, we were able to interpret the Raman spectra and visualise Raman active atom vibrations. We show that phase purity enables the unbiased characterisation of material properties such as negative thermal expansion. KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Solid-state KW - Ab-initio KW - XRD KW - Raman PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-613643 DO - https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-d4sj9 SN - 2573-2293 VL - 2024 SP - 1 EP - 60 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, D.C. AN - OPUS4-61364 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė T1 - Synthesis and phase purity of the negative thermal expansion material ZrV2O7 N2 - This repository contains computational and experimental data for the manuscript titled “Synthesis and phase purity of the negative thermal expansion material ZrV2O7”. KW - NTE KW - Sol-gel KW - Solid-state KW - Ab-initio KW - XRD KW - Raman PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12688634 PB - Zenodo CY - Geneva AN - OPUS4-61360 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė T1 - Theoretical and experimental development of negative thermal expansion material ZrV2O7 N2 - Zirconium vanadate (ZrV2O7) is a well-known negative thermal expansion (NTE) material which stands out for its remarkable isotropic unit cell contraction over a broad temperature range (130°C < T < 800°C). This enables the fabrication of composites where the overall expansion coefficient can be tailored to a specific negative, positive, or neutral value. Consequently, such composite materials are attractive for many device applications because they can compensate for damage caused by thermal expansion. They are relevant to optical systems, electronic and biomedical applications. In this study, we implement ab-initio-based vibrational computations with partially treated anharmonicity (quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA), temperature-dependent effective harmonic potentials (TDEP)[5]) in combination with experimental methods to follow and rationalize the negative thermal expansion in this material, including the influence of the local structure disorder, microstructure, and defects. In analytical techniques that can provide structural information such as pair distribution function analysis (PDF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), molecules and atoms are fit geometrically without consideration of atom interactions. Therefore, in combination with these methods, we also consider potential energy surfaces and conclude what structures are likely to form energetically in the full NTE temperature range, in addition to fitting experimental data geometrically. We also optimise experimentally fitted structures to their lowest energy configurations and re-generate comparative data to observe what differences would be visible experimentally. T2 - XLVIII International Congress of Theoretical Chemists of Latin Expression CY - Cartagena de Indias, Colombia DA - 13.07.2025 KW - NTE KW - Ab initio KW - QHA KW - TDEP KW - anharmonicity PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63873 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -