Structures of Bi14WO24 and Bi14MoO24 from neutron powder diffraction data.

Abstract

The (isomorphous) structures of Bi(14)WO(24), tetradecabismuth tungsten tetracosaoxide, and Bi(14)MoO(24), tetradecabismuth molybdenum tetracosaoxide, have been solved and refined using neutron powder diffraction data in the space group I4/m. The metal-atom array is fully ordered in terms of composition, and in terms of atomic positions deviates only slightly from a fluorite-type delta-Bi(2)O(3)-related parent structure. Three independent O-atom sites (accounting for 70 out of 78 O atoms in the unit cell) are also very close to fluorite-type parent positions. The remaining two O-atom sites, which coordinate W, exhibit partial occupancies and displacive disorder, neither of which could be better modelled by lowering of symmetry. The W site is coordinated by four O atoms in highly distorted tetrahedral coordination, the tetrahedron necessarily being orientationally disordered on that site. Nonetheless, the structure appears to be chemically reasonable.