Electron beam-induced oxygen desorption in [formula omitted]-LiAlO 2

Abstract

Effects of electron irradiation damage in γ -LiAlO 2 were analysed using energy loss near edge fine structure (ELNES) of the O K-edge. Simulations of the O K-fine structure by means of a density functional theory (DFT) code show that under the electron beam γ -LiAlO 2 undergoes the following transformation: LiAlO 2→ LiAl 5O 8→ Al 2O 3. O K-edge spectra, which were recorded during this decomposition process, contain an additional peak at 531 eV. This peak can be attributed to a π ∗ -transition, which is observed for molecular oxygen O 2. This result suggests that the electron beam-induced LiAlO 2 decomposition occurs through the loss of O 2.