Ba[Co3(VO4)2(OH)2] with a regular Kagomé lattice

Abstract

The new layered title compound, barium di-μ-hydroxido-di-μ-vanadato-tricobaltate(II), was prepared under low-temperature hydrothermal conditions. Its crystal structure comprises Co(2+) and O(2-) ions in the Kagomé geometry. The octahedral Co(3)O(6)(OH)(2) Kagomé layers, made up of edge-shared CoO(4)(OH)(2) octahedra with Co on a site of 2/m symmetry, alternate along the c axis with barium vanadate heteropolyhedral layers, in which Ba is on a site of 3m symmetry and V is on a site of 3m symmetry. All three O atoms and the H atom also occupy special positions: two O atoms and the H atom are on sites with 3m symmetry and one O atom is on a site with m symmetry. Ba[Co(3)(VO(4))(2)(OH)(2)] represents the first compound from the four-component BaO-CoO-V(2)O(5)-H(2)O system and its structure is topologically related to the minerals vesignieite, Ba[Cu(3)(VO(4))(2)(OH)(2)], and bayldonite, Pb[Cu(3)(AsO(4))(2)(OH)(2)].