Oxygen-storage behavior and local structure in Ti-substituted YMnO 3

Abstract Hexagonal manganates RMnO 3 (R=Y, Ho, Dy) have been recently shown to exhibit oxygen-storage capacities promising for three-way catalysts, air-separation, and related technologies. Here, we demonstrate that Ti substitution for Mn can be used to chemically tune the oxygen-breathing properties of these materials towards practical applications. Specifically, Y(Mn 1−x Ti x )O 3 solid solutions exhibit facile oxygen absorption/desorption via reversible Ti 3+ ↔Ti 4+ and Mn 3+ ↔Mn 4+ reactions already in ambient air at ≈400 °C and ≈250 °C, respectively. On cooling, the oxidation of both cations is accompanied by oxygen uptake yielding a formula YMn 3+ 1−x-y Mn 4+ y Ti 4+ x O 3+δ . The presence of Ti promotes the oxidation of Mn 3+ to Mn 4+ , which is almost negligible for YMnO 3 in air, thereby increasing the uptake of oxygen beyond that required for a given Ti 4+ concentration. The reversibility of the redox reactions is limited by sluggish kinetics; however, the oxidation process continues, if slowly, even at room temperature. The extra oxygen atoms are accommodated by the large interstices within a triangular lattice formed by the [MnO 5 ] trigonal bipyramids. According to bond distances from Rietveld refinements using the neutron diffraction data, the YMnO 3 structure features under-bonded Mn and even more severely under-bonded oxygen atoms that form the trigonal bases of the [MnO 5 ] bipyramids. The tensile bond strain around the 5-fold coordinated Mn site and the strong preference of Ti 4+ (and Mn 4+ ) for higher coordination numbers likely provide driving forces for the oxidation reaction. Reverse Monte Carlo refinements of the local atomic displacements using neutron total scattering revealed how the excess oxygen atoms are accommodated in the structure by correlated local displacements of the host atoms. Large displacements of the under-bonded host oxygen atoms play a key part in this lattice-relaxation process, facilitating reversible exchange of significant amounts of oxygen with atmosphere.