High-Pressure Synthesis and Structural Instability of A-Site-Ordered Quadruple Perovskite LaHg <sub>3</sub> Ti <sub>4</sub> O <sub> 12 <b>+</b> δ </sub>
PbHg<sub>3</sub>Ti<sub>4</sub>O<sub>12</sub> (PHTO) represents the first example of ferroelectricity in quadruple A-site-ordered perovskites AA'<sub>3</sub>B<sub>4</sub>O<sub>12</sub>, which features Hg<sup>2+</sup> ions in an unusual 8-fold coordination at the A'-site, forming a structural bridge between simple perovskites and conventional A-site-ordered perovskites. Here, we engineer the A-site charge and lone-pair activity by substituting La<sup>3+</sup> for Pb<sup>2+</sup>, and synthesize a new A-site-ordered perovskite LaHg<sub>3</sub>Ti<sub>4</sub>O<sub>12+δ</sub> (LHTO) under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. LHTO crystallizes in the centrosymmetric <i>Im</i>3̅ structure at room temperature and is isostructural with PHTO, retaining the 8-fold coordination of the Hg<sup>2+</sup> ions. Structural and dielectric characterizations, and first-principles calculations, show a structural instability around 90 K driven by phonon soft modes dominated by Ti-O vibration and the weakening of lone pair, which prevents the development of long-range ferroelectric order. Our results establish a dual A-site design strategy─tuning both lone-pair activity and electron doping─for controlling ferroelectricity in A-site-ordered quadruple perovskites and uncover a competing instability characteristic of this intermediate-coordination regime.
Authors
- Youwen Long (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8587-7818)
- Chun-Fu Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4036-447X)
- Dongdong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8496-2386)
- Ning Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8440-0604)
- Z. W. Pan
- L. Lian
- Z. Hu
- Xubin Ye
- Changqing Jin
- Huiyang Gou
- Qingyang Hu
- Runze Yu
- Jun Deng
- Yuling Dai
- Jianfa Zhao
Institutions
- Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
- Applied Photonics (United Kingdom) (GB)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Published
- 2026-03-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.5c06049
- Primary Topic
- Microwave Dielectric Ceramics Synthesis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00