Study of domains and domain walls in ferroelastic BiVO4

Abstract

The domain structure of pure ferroelastic BiVO4 has been studied by TEM and electron diffraction. Parallel domain walls w' have been imaged in dark field conditions as alternating black and white lines. Angles between domain walls, between domain walls and the [100] axis and the rotation angle between the (hk0) reciprocal planes of two adjacent ferroelastic domains were measured and are in good agreement with calculated values. The multiple splitting of the hk0 diffraction spots when both w' walls are present simultaneously is discussed.