| Abstract Scope |
Oxide materials proposed for use in a wide variety of current and next-generation energy technologies require a comprehensive understanding of how their structure is modified across all length scales by exposure to extreme conditions (e.g., ion exposure, high temperatures, and variable chemical composition). We demonstrated previously that neutron total scattering experiments with pair distribution function (PDF) analysis coupled with Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) modeling is an ideal tool for characterizing defective and highly disordered materials from the atomic scale to the long-range structure. The new insight that characterization with spallation neutrons provide, is shown with three representative examples: (1) amorphous complex oxides relevant for nuclear waste research (e.g., waste glasses and A2B2O7 pyrochlore oxides), (2) disordered, crystalline complex oxides related to fuel cell and battery research (e.g., A3BO7 fluorite and AB2O4 spinel oxides), and (3) defective, crystalline simple oxides utilized as nuclear fuels (e.g., UO2+x hyperstoichiometric oxides). |