Na4Fe2+Fe3+(PO4)3, a new synthetic NASICON-type phosphate

This paper reports the crystal structure of tetrasodium diiron tris(phosphate), Na4Fe2+Fe3+(PO4)3, which has been synthesized hydrothermally at 773 K and 0.1 GPa. The crystal structure has been refined in the space group Roverline{3}c and is identical to that of γ-NASICON. The heteropolyhedral framework is based on a regular alternation, in three dimensions, of corner-sharing PO4 tetrahedra and FeO6 octahedra, constituting so-called `lantern units' stacked along the c axis. The Na+ cations are distributed over two crystallographic sites: the six-coordinated Na1 site which lies between two `lantern units', and the eight-coordinated Na2 site which lies at the same z value as the P site