Positron annihilation in off-stoichiometric and ta-doped Zn2TiO4

While Zn vacancies are regarded as the charge compensators in Ti-rich Zn2TiO4, no evidence of cation vacancies in essentially single-phase samples containing up to 13 wt% excess TiO2 was evident from positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). Nor was there strong evidence of cation vacancies in Ta-doped samples targeted to contain either tetrahedral or octahedral vacancies, although there was a small increase in the lifetime as the doping level increased and the structure changed from cubic to tetragonal. © 2013, The American Ceramic Society