材料期刊网

Structural parameters have a critical impact on superconductivity in iron-based oxypnictide superconductors. Structural evolution study was performed on Ce(1-x)Gd(x)FeAsO(0.84)F(0.16) superconductors by the analysis of the x-ray diffraction patterns with Rietveld refinement. Substitution of Gd for Ce generates internal pressure that compresses the crystal lattice. The contraction of the c axis is also indicated by the reduction of Ce/Gd-As and Ce/Gd-O/F distances, while there is a slight increase in the As-Fe-As block size, which is compensated by a large reduction in the Ce/Gd-O/F-Ce/Gd block with Gd substitution. The diagonal Fe-As-Fe angle for Ce(0.6)Gd(0.4)FeAsO(0.84)F(0.16), with the highest T(c) among Ce(1-x)Gd(x)FeAsO(0.84)F(0.16) compounds, is 111.13 degrees. It is close to the ideal value of 109.47 degrees for the perfect FeAs tetrahedron, which is situated in the region of Fe-As-Fe bond angles where RFeAsO compounds tend to have the highest T(c). (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3565408]