3D Transition Metal Ordering and Rietveld Stacking Fault Quantification in the New Oxychalcogenides La2O2Cu2–4xCd2xSe2

Abstract

A number of LnOCuCh (Ln = La–Nd, Bi; Ch = S, Se, Te) compounds have been reported in the literature built from alternating layers of fluorite-like [Ln2O2]2+ sheets and antifluorite-like [M2Se2]2– sheets, where M is in the +1 oxidation state leading to full occupancy of available MSe4/2 tetrahedral sites. There is also a family of related LnOM0.5Se (Ln = La & Ce, M = Fe, Zn, Mn & Cd) compounds built from alternating layers of [Ln2O2]2+ sheets and [MSe2]2– sheets, where M is in the +2 oxidation state with half occupancy of available tetrahedral sites and complex ordering schemes in two dimensions. This paper reports a new family of compounds containing both +1 and +2 metal ions in the La2O2Cu2–4xCd2xSe2 family. We show how Cu1+ and Cd2+ ions segregate into distinct fully occupied and half occupied checkerboard-like layers respectively, leading to complex long-range superstructures in the third (stacking) dimension. To understand the structure and microstructure of these new materials we have developed and implemented a new methodology for studying low and high probability stacking faults using a Rietveld-compatible supercell approach capable of analyzing systems with thousands of layers. We believe this method will be widely applicable.