Principal element design of pyrochlore-fluorite dual-phase medium- and high-entropy ceramics

Dual-phase rare-earth-zirconate high-entropy ceramics have gained significant research interest recently. However, the large composition complexity and serious lattice distortion from multi-components doping increase the uncertainty of their crystal structures. In this work, a series of dual-phase rare-earth-zirconate medium- and high-entropy ceramics are successfully fabricated. Results of this study indicate that these dual-phase ceramics are composed of pyrochlore and fluorite structures. Simultaneously, a principal element design criterion of the pyrochlore-fluorite dual-phase medium- and high-entropy ceramics is proposed. The phase structures of pyrochlore-fluorite dual-phase samples are co-determined by the average ionic radius ratio and the size disorder parameter. When the average ionic radius ratio is in the range of 1.4 to 1.5 and the size disorder parameter is larger than 5%, it is more inclined to form pyrochlore-fluorite dual-phase structure. This work has an important guiding significance to the composition design of pyrochlore-fluorite dual-phase medium- and high-entropy ceramics.