Pair potentials and the ordered defect structure of NbO

Pair potential method used to determine the cause for the ordered defect structure of NbO reveals that Nb-Nb pair does not cause structural instability. The metal atoms do not exhibit dissociation tendency due to the stable, six-coordinate structure of other metal atoms. However, the dissociation of the oxygen pair leads to repulsive pair potentials of the metal atoms, thereby revealing the synergistic character of ordered defect structure of NbO.