Oxygen vacancy ordering in SrFe0.25Co0.75O2.63 perovskite material.

SrFe0.25Co0.75O2.63 was synthesized by a solid-state reaction. Its structural study at room temperature using conventional X-ray as well as neutron powder diffraction, electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy is presented. An oxygen-vacancy ordering related to the "314" model known for the Sr3Y1Co4O10.5 oxide is proposed despite neither an A-site ordering nor an A-site mismatch. By means of Mössbauer spectroscopy, Mohr salt titration and the difference in the neutron cross sections of Fe and Co, a cation distribution within the crystallographic sites as the following Sr4(Fe0.143+Co0.363+)48h(Fe0.114+Co0.144+Co0.253+)48fO10.52 is suggested, highlighting a natural layered structure with Fe and Co in higher oxidation states in the oxygen replete layers than in the oxygen deficient ones.

Effect of Co Substitution on the Crystal and Magnetic Structure of SrFeO2.75-δ: Stabilization of the "314-Type" Oxygen Vacancy Ordered Structure without A-Site Ordering.

A study of the structure-composition-properties correlation is reported for the oxygen-deficient SrFe1-xCoxO2.75-δ (x = 0.1-0.85) materials. The introduction of Co in the parent SrFeO2.75 (Sr4Fe4O11) structure revealed an interesting structural transformation. At room temperature (RT), an orthorhombic (space group Cmmm, 2√2ap × 2ap × âˆš2ap type, ap = lattice parameter of the cubic perovskite) → tetragonal (space group P4/mmm, ap × ap × 2ap type) → tetragonal (space group I4/mmm, 2ap × 2ap × 4ap type) structural transformation is observed in parallel with increasing Co content and decreasing oxygen content in the structure. At the same time, a rich variation in the magnetic properties is explored. The samples with x = 0.25, 0.3 show temperature-induced magnetization reversal. With increasing Co content in the structure, magnetic interactions start to weaken due to the random distribution of Fe and Co in the structure; the x = 0.5 sample shows frustration in the magnetic behavior with much smaller magnetization value. With a further increase in the Co content in the structure, RT ferrimagnetic-type behavior is observed for the sample with x = 0.85. The nuclear and magnetic structure refinements using RT and low-temperature neutron powder diffraction (NPD, 10 K) patterns confirm the formation of a "314-type" novel oxygen vacancy ordered phase for the sample with x = 0.85, which is the first case of "314-type" novel oxygen vacancy ordering without A-site (ABO3-δ type perovskite) ordering. The magnetic structure is G-type antiferromagnetic starting at room temperature. Further, the stabilization of the "314-type" complex superstructure is related to the ordering of oxygen vacancies in the oxygen-deficient Co-O layers, and the same assists in building a network of Co ions with different coordination environments, each with different spin states, and forms the spin-state ordering.