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Solid‐State Chemistry on the Nanoscale: Ion Transport through Interstitial Sites or Vacancies?
Author(s) -
Bothe Cornelia,
Kornowski Andreas,
Tornatzky Hans,
Schmidtke Christian,
Lange Holger,
Maultzsch Janina,
Weller Horst
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201507263
Subject(s) - nanoscopic scale , chemical physics , ion , solid state , chemistry , nanotechnology , materials science , organic chemistry
How can ion‐exchange process occur in nanocrystals without the size and shape changing and why is the ion transport much faster than in classical interdiffusion processes in macrocrystalline solids? We have investigated these processes at the molecular level by means of high‐resolution and analytical electron microscopy in temperature‐dependent kinetic experiments for several model reactions. The results clearly show a diffusion process that proceeds exclusively through the interstitial lattice positions with a subsequent “kick out” to remove individual ions from lattice sites without the formation of vacancies. This mechanism has not been observed in nanocrystalline systems before.