The mixed valent tellurate SrTe3O8: Electronic lone pair effect of Te4+

A novel mixed valent tellurium oxide, SrTe3O8, has been synthesized and its crystal structure was determined ab initio from powder X-ray diffraction data. This oxide, which crystallizes in a tetragonal unit-cell, P42/m space group, with very close a and c cell parameters (6.8257(1) and 6.7603(1) Å, respectively), exhibits a very original structure built up of corner-sharing TeO6 (Te6+) octahedra and Te2O8 (Te4+) twin-pyramidal units. The latter ones form [Te3O8]∞ chains running along the [001] and the [110] directions. Besides the four sided tunnels where the Sr2+ cations are located, there are very large four sided tunnels running along the c-axis which are obstructed by the electronic lone pairs of the Te4+ cations.