We prepared the highly c*-axis-aligned polycrystalline lanthanum germanate oxyapatite, La 9.68 Ge 6 O 26.52 , by the reactive diffusion that occurs between a randomly grainoriented La 2 GeO 5 polycrystal and [GeO + 1/2O 2 ] gases at 1723 K in air. The resulting La 9.68 Ge 6 O 26.52 polycrystal was examined by optical microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, microRaman spectroscopy, and impedance spectroscopy. The crystal structure (space group P1) showed the appreciable positional disordering of 9 of the 24 O atoms, bonding to Ge atoms, in the unit cell. We have found an extra O site, with the occupation factor of 0.51, which was located close to one of the six Ge sites with the Ge−O distance of ∼0.198 nm. The Raman extra band at 649 cm −1 also suggested the existence of the five coordinate Ge atoms. The conductivity along the c* axis of oxide ions steadily increased from 6.3 × 10 −7 to 1.04 × 10 −2 S/cm as the temperature increased from 573 to 973 K. The activation energy of conduction was 1.2 eV.
■ INTRODUCTIONThe sintered polycrystalline materials (e.g., ceramics) that are formed by the conventional sintering methods normally possess a randomly grain-aligned structure. Such materials generally show isotropic mechanical (e.g., fracture toughness and bending strength) and physical (e.g., magnetic, pyroelectric, piezoelectric, and thermoelectric) properties. On the other hand, the ceramics with grain-aligned microtextures can demonstrate anisotropic properties. One of the most common texturing methods would be of the templated grain growth process, 1,2 and the others would comprise hot pressing, applying magnetic field, and utilizing centrifugal force. 3−5 However, these manufacturing processes are quite complicated and also the texture fraction of the grain-aligned ceramics is not necessarily satisfactory.Recently, the highly c-axis-oriented polycrystalline lanthanum silicate oxyapatite (LSO) has been successfully prepared by the solid-state reactive diffusion between La 2 SiO 5 and La 2 Si 2 O 7 . 6−11 The LSO is thermodynamically stable, in the binary system La 2 O 3 −SiO 2 , between the intermediate compounds of La 2 SiO 5 and La 2 Si 2 O 7 . The grain-aligned polycrystals of LSO have been readily formed as layers at the original contact boundaries of the La 2 SiO 5 /La 2 Si 2 O 7 diffusion couples after the heat treatment between 1773 and 1873 K for 5−100 h. The product LSO layer was separated by the original boundary into two adjacent regions. 6 The LSO crystals of the former La 2 SiO 5 region are grown by the reaction of La 2 SiO 5 with SiO 2 component, the latter of which is released from La 2 Si 2 O 7 . The LSO crystals of the former La 2 Si 2 O 7 region are generated by the loss of the SiO 2 component from La 2 Si 2 O 7 ; the contribution of in-coming La 2 O 3 flux, which crosses the original contact boundary from the La 2 SiO 5 region, is negligible. The chemical reaction processes of these unbalanced diffusion of SiO 2 component are described by 7,11