Pyrochlores. IV. Crystallographic and Mössbauer studies of A2FeSbO7 pyrochlores

Abstract

The lattice parameters and the quadrupole splittings of the room-temperature Mössbauer spectra of the cubic A2FeSbO7 pyrochlores (A = Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Y, Er, Lu) have been found to vary linearly with the Templeton–Dauben radii of the A3+ ions. The variation of the quadrupole splitting can be correlated with the positional parameter of the majority oxygen atom, x(O2), which determines the degree of distortion of the BO6 octahedron in cubic A2B2O7 pyrochlores. An increase of 0.1 Å in r(A3+) corresponds to a decrease of ca. 0.20 mm/s in the quadrupole splitting in the A2FeSbO7 series, and to an estimated increase of ca. 0.005 in x(O2). The isomer shift and quadrupole splitting at room temperature are typical of Fe3+(high spin) in octahedral coordination of relatively high distortion. Y2FeSbO7 at 4.2°K was found to exhibit magnetic order with a hyperfine magnetic field of approximately 400 kOe. An attempt to prepare a cubic La2FeSbO7, pyrochlore by the standard procedure was not successful.