Hydrothermal synthesis, crystal structure, and vibrational and Mössbauer spectra of a new tricationic orthophosphate — KCo3Fe(PO4)3

Abstract

Crystals of a new potassium cobalt(II) iron(II) triorthophosphate salt, KCo3Fe(PO4)3, as well as amorphous nanoparticles of the same material have been produced by hydrothermal reactions, under supercritical water (SCW) conditions, of equivalent quantities of aq. CoCl2·6H2O (2 mol/L) and K4P2O7(1 mol/L) in concd. HCl in a stainless steel batch reactor at 400–450 °C and 25–32 MPa. The dark-violet crystals of the new salt have been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and IR, Raman, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The Fe(II) in the new orthophosphate salt must derive from leaching of iron from the stainless steel walls of the reactor by concd. HCl under the SCW conditions. The salt crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnnm, Z = 4, with unit cell parameters as follows: a = 9.672(1) Å, b = 16.457(2) Å, c = 6.2004(8) Å, V = 986.97 Å3. Microporous KCo3Fe(PO4)3exhibits infinite chains of corner-sharing [PO43–], [FeO6], and [CoO5] units, which form two large rhombus tunnels, occupied by K+ions, running parallel to [100] in the unit cell. The vibrational spectra have been interpreted partly on the basis of factor group effects and are in accord with the centrosymmetric structure of the material. The particle sizes of this new nanomaterial and their distribution have been determined by scanning electron micrography and laser scattering particle size distribution analysis, while the amorphous nanomaterial has also been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Key words: crystal structure, vibrational and Mössbauer spectra, orthophosphate, nanomaterial.