Whitlockite solid solutions Ca9?xMxR(PO4)7 (x = 1, 1.5; M = Mg, Zn, Cd; R = Ln, Y) with antiferroelectric properties

Whitlockite solid solutions Ca_9−x M _x R(PO₄)₇ (M = Mg, Zn, Cd; R = Ln, Y) were synthesized as powders and ceramics using solid-phase synthesis. Dielectric investigations and second harmonic generation (SHG) tests showed that ferroelectric (FE) phase transitions existing in samples with x = 0 change to antiferro-electric (AFE) transitions between two centrosymmetrical phases in samples with x = 1 or 1.5. The calcium-ion solid electrolyte conductivity in Ca_9−x M _x R(PO₄)₇ at high temperatures appears either as a result of an antiferroelectric-paraelectric (AFE-PE) phase transition (for x = 1) or as a result of a separate phase transition near 1173 K (for x = 1.5). The appearance of dielectric properties in whitlockites is discussed with reference to the features of their polar and centrosymmetrical structures. Original Russian Text ? A.V. Teterskii, S.Yu. Stefanovich, B.I. Lazoryak, D.A. Rusakov, 2007, published in Zhurnal Neorganicheskoi Khimii, 2007, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp 357–363.