Crystal Structure of Zn3V0.5P1.5O8
The stable phase in the Zn3(PO4)2–Zn3(VO4)2 system near 25 mol% Zn3(VO4)2 is monoclinic with space group C2/c and unit cell parameters a = 15.941(6), b = 5.314(2), c = 8.265(2) Å, β = 106.96(3)° and Z = 4. The structure was refined by full-matrix least-squares methods using 910 reflections, R = 0.073. The composition, Zn3P1.50V0.50(4)O8, was determined by site population analysis with the V and P randomly distributed. One-third of the zinc ions lie on twofold axes and these show an average Zn—O bond length of 1.955 Å while the remaining ZnO4 group has a mean Zn—O bond length of 1.948 Å. The structure consists of sheets parallel to (100) formed of chains containing rings of corner shared Zn(1)O4 and (V,P)O4 tetrahedra. The Zn(2)O4 groups, in turn, form chains parallel to the b axis through corner sharing.