Disordered LiZnVO4 with a phenacite structure

Single crystals of lithium zinc vanadate, LiZnVO(4), were grown by the flux method. The structural type of this vanadate is characterized by a three-dimensional arrangement of tetra-hedra sharing apices in an LiZnVO(4) network. This arrangement contains three different tetra-hedra, namely one [VO(4)] and two disordered mixed-site [Li/ZnO(4)] tetra-hedra. The resulting lattice gives rise to hexa-gonal channels running along the [0001] direction. Both sites in the mixed-site [Li/ZnO(4)] tetra-hedra are occupied by a statistical mixture of lithium and zinc with a 1:1 ratio. Therefore, LiZnVO(4) appears to be the first vanadate known to crystallize with a disordered phenacite structure. Moreover, the resulting values of calculated bond valences (Li = 1.083, Zn = 2.062 and V = 5.185) tend to confirm the structural model.