Changes in the crystal system of an ionic nanocrystal during a cation exchange reaction are unusual yet remain to be systematically investigated. In this study, chemical synthesis and computational modeling demonstrated that the height of hexagonal-prism roxbyite (Cu1.8S) nanocrystals with a distorted hexagonal close-packed sulfide anion (S2−) sublattice determines the final crystal phase of the cation-exchanged products with Co2+ [wurtzite cobalt sulfide (CoS) with hexagonal close-packed S2– and/or cobalt pentlandite (Co9S8) with cubic close-packed S2–]. Thermodynamic instability of exposed planes drives reconstruction of anion frameworks under mild reaction conditions. Other incoming cations (Mn2+, Zn2+, and Ni2+) modulate crystal structure transformation during cation exchange reactions by various means, such as volume, thermodynamic stability, and coordination environment.

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We report the crystal structure of Nd–Fe alloys as candidates for grain-boundary phases in Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets. We find that the crystal structure of the fluorite Nd–Fe alloys is stable for a wide composition range. We also demonstrate that solid solution of Ga is effective in stabilizing the fluorite crystal structure of Nd–Fe alloys, which is consistent with experimental observations reporting crystalline Nd–Fe alloys at the grain boundaries of Ga-added Nd–Fe–B permanent magnets.

We report the most stable surface of SmFe12 and the interface magnetic properties of SmFe12 with SmCu and bcc Fe as subphases. We find that the (110) surface with the highest exposition of Sm is the most stable surface of SmFe12. Stabilization by the exposition of rare-earth is also confirmed for Nd2Fe14B. Moreover, we also demonstrate that SmCu improves not only magnetic moments and the anisotropy of grain surfaces of SmFe12 but also well suppresses the magnetic interaction between SmFe12 grains.