Study on Interfacial Effects on Thermal, Mechanical and Fluorescent Properties for SrTiO₃-SrCeO₃ Composites

Abstract

Combining different phases in composite materials introduces interfaces that control the microstructure as well as functional and structural properties. This work focused on designing thermodynamically compatible SrTiO3-SrCeO3 with low thermal conductivity and up-conversion photoluminescence. Using a one-pot solid-state reaction method, SrTiO3-SrCeO3 composites have been synthesized with high-temperature stability, low thermal conductivity, and ideal mechanical and photoluminescence properties. Due to the interfaces between cubic and orthorhombic structures that could enhance the phonon scattering, the thermal conductivity was significantly decreased, while the hardness was maintained and satisfied by the mixing law. The photoluminescence of SrTiO3-SrCeO3 exhibited green, blue and purple bands with an up-conversion fluorescence at room temperature.