Octahedral tilting in the polar hexagonal tungsten bronzes RbNbW₂O₉ and KNbW₂O₉

The ambient temperature structures (orthorhombic, space group, Cmc21) of the polar hexagonal tungsten bronzes RbNbW2O9 and KNbW2O9 have been determined by high-resolution powder neutron diffraction. Displacement of the A-site cation in the polar c-axis, with concomitant octahedral tilting, occurs to optimise the A-cation bonding environment reducing the coordination from 18 to 16. This effect is more evident in KNbW2O9 due to decreased A-cation size. The octahedral tilting in both compositions results in a doubling of the c-axis that has not previously been reported, highlighting the importance of neutron diffraction as a complementary technique for structural determination of such systems