At last! The single‐crystal X‐ray structure of a naturally occurring sample of the ilmenite‐type oxide FeCrO3. Issue 5 (1st October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pérez‐Cruz, María Ana; Elizalde‐González, María de la Paz; Escudero, Roberto; Bernès, Sylvain; Silva‐González, Rutilo; Reyes‐Ortega, Yasmi
• Is Part Of: Acta crystallographica. Volume 71:Issue 5(2015:Oct.)
• Page Start: 555
• Page End: 561
• Publication Date: 2015-10-01
• DOI: 10.1107/S2052520615015838
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2052-5206

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>A natural single crystal of the ferrimagnetic oxide FeCrO<sub>3</sub>, which was found in an opencast mine situated in the San Luis Potosí State in Mexico, has been characterized in order to elucidate some outstanding issues about the actual structure of this material. The single‐crystal X‐ray analysis unambiguously shows that transition metal cations are segregated in alternating layers normal to the threefold crystallographic axis, affording a structure isomorphous to that of ilmenite (FeTiO<sub>3</sub>), in the space group <inline-graphic xlink:href="ark:/27927/pgk2qcvxzv" mimetype="image" xlink:type="simple" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" />. The possible occurrence of cation antisite and vacancy defects is below the limit of detection available from X‐ray data. Structural and magnetic results are in agreement with the coherent slow intergrowth of magnetic phases provided by the two antiferromagnetic corundum‐type parent oxides Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (hematite) and Cr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (eskolaite). Our results are consistent with the most recent density functional theory (DFT) studies carried out on digital FeCrO<sub>3</sub> [Sadat Nabi & Pentcheva (2011). <italic>Phys. Rev. B</italic>, <bold>83</bold>, 214424], and suggest that synthetic samples of FeCrO<sub>3</sub> might present a cation distribution different to that of the ilmenite structural type.</p> </abstract>