Investigation of (Sr4-(delta)Ca(delta))PtO6 using X-ray Rietveld refinement

The structures of the solid solution series (Sr4-(delta)Ca(delta))PtO6, with (delta)=0, 0.85(1), 2, and 3, have been investigated using the Rietveld refinement technique with laboratory X-ray powder diffraction data. A complete solid solution between Sr and Ca was confirmed to exist. These compounds crystallize in the rhombohedral space group R3c. The cell parameters of the series range from a of 9.4780(3) to 9.7477(1) A, and c from 11.3301(4) to 11.8791(1) A for (delta)from 3 to 0, respectively. The structure consists of chains of alternating trigonal prismatic (Sr, Ca)O6 and octahedral PtO6 units running parallel to the c axis. These chains are connected to each other via a second type of (Sr, Ca) ions, which are surrounded by eight oxygens, in a distorted square antiprismatic geometry. As Ca replaced Sr in Sr4PtO6, it was found to substitute preferentially in the smaller octahedral (Sr, Ca) 1 site (6a) rather than at the eight-coordinate (Sr, Ca)2 site (18e). There appears to be an anomaly of cell parameters a and c at the compound Sr3.15Ca0.85PtO6. Their dependence on Ca content changes at (delta)= 1.00, where the Ca has fully replaced Sr in the 6a site. The substitution of Sr by Ca reduced the average (Sr, Ca) 1-O length from 2.411 to 2.311 A and (Sr, Ca)2-O from 2.659 to 2.570 A as the composition varied from Sr4PtO6 to SrCa3PtO6. Reference X-ray powder diffraction patterns were prepared from the Rietveld refinement results for these members of the solid solution series. Magnetic susceptibility measurements of three of the samples ((delta)=0, 0.85, 2) show electronic transitions at low temperatures.