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Transition-metal oxynitrides with perovskite-type structures are an emerging class of materials with optical, photocatalytic, dielectric and magnetoresistive properties that may be sensitive to oxide-nitride order, but the anion-ordering principles were unclear. Here we report an investigation of the representative compounds SrMO(2)N (M = Nb, Ta) using neutron and electron diffraction. This revealed a robust 1O/2(O(0.5)N(0.5)) partial anion order (up to at least 750 °C in the apparently cubic high-temperature phases) that directs the rotations of MO(4)N(2) octahedra in the room-temperature superstructure. The anion distribution is consistent with local cis-ordering of the two nitrides in each octahedron driven by covalency, which results in disordered zigzag M-N chains in planes within the perovskite lattice. Local structures for the full range of oxynitride perovskites are predicted and a future challenge is to tune properties by controlling the order and dimensionality of the anion chains and networks.

A simple crossover from two-dimensional to three-dimensional correlated disorder of O and N atoms on a cubic lattice has been discovered within the Ba1−xSrxTaO2N series of perovskite oxynitrides. The crossover is driven by lattice expansion as x decreases, and provides a rapid increase in entropy due to a change from subextensive to extensive configurational entropy regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pauling's second crystal rule is shown to be able to predict in a general and simple way the distribution of anions in mixed oxyanion systems such as oxynitrides and oxyhalides with diverse compositions and structure types. Results are presented in a plot correlating the charge of the anions obtained from the observed occupancies in crystallographic positions with the calculated bond strength sums for these sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystal structure of the n = 1 member of the Ruddlesden-Popper family (SrO)(SrNbO2N)n was refined by the Rietveld method using neutron powder diffraction data. This complex crystallizes in the l4/mmm space group with cell parameters a = 4.0506(2) and c = 12.5936(9) Å. The refined composition was Sr2NbO3.28N0.72, which corresponds to a formal oxidation state for Nb of +4.72, meaning 72% Nb(V) and 28% Nb(IV). The nitrogen atoms order in the equatorial sites of the niobium octahedra according to Pauling's second crystal rule as the more charged anion occupies the site showing the larger bond strength sums. Pauling's second crystal rule is shown to be able to predict the distribution of anions in the available crystallographic sites in other mixed anion systems such as oxyhalides with K2NiF4 structures and other oxynitrides. The defect structure of the n = 1 and n = 2 members of the same family was investigated by high-resolution electron microscopy. Recurrent intergrowth along the c axis with other Ruddlesden-Popper members (n = 3, 4, and perovskite) is observed, resulting in streaking along this direction in the corresponding electron diffraction patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]