Grain boundary self-diffusion of tracer 18O atoms in nanocrystalline oxide LaMnO3 + δ

Abstract

Diffusion coefficients of tracer 18O atoms at boundaries of nanograins of LaMnO3 + δ oxide have been measured in the temperature range of 400–500°C. The samples of the nanocrystalline oxide are prepared with the use of the shockwave loading method. The concentration profile of the tracer atoms after diffusion annealing is measured with the use of the nuclear microanalysis method. The activation energies of the grain boundary diffusion amounts to about 2 eV and the boundary width is ∼0.05 nm. The measured coefficients of the grain boundary diffusion at 500°C exceed the corresponding coefficients of the volume diffusion by seven orders of magnitude.