Crystal structure of strontium dicobalt iron(III) tris(orthophosphate): SrCo2Fe(PO4)3

Abstract

The title compound, SrCo2Fe(PO4)3, has been synthesized by a solid-state reaction. It crystallizes with the α-CrPO4type structure. In this structure, all atoms are on special positions of theImmaspace group, except for two O atoms which are located on general positions. The three-dimensional network in the crystal structure is made up of two types of layers stacked normal to (100). The first layer is built from two edge-sharing CoO6octahedra, leading to the formation of Co2O10dimers that are connected to two PO4tetrahedra by a common edge and corners. The second layer results from apex-sharing FeO6octahedra and PO4tetrahedra, which form linear chains alternating with a zigzag chain of SrIIcations. These layers are linked together by common vertices of PO4tetrahedra and FeO6octahedra to form an open three-dimensional framework that delimits two types of channels parallel to [100] and [010] where the SrIIcations are located. Each SrIIcation is surrounded by eight O atoms.