Crystal structures and chemistry of double perovskites Ba2M(II)M′(VI)O6 (M=Ca, Sr, M′=Te, W, U)

Structures of the double perovskites Ba2M(II)M ′(VI)O6 (M=Ca, Sr, M′=Te, W, U) at room temperature have been investigated by the Rietveld method using X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. For double perovskites with M=Sr, the observed space groups are I2/m (M′ =W) and image (M′=Te), respectively. In the case of M=Ca, the space groups are either monoclinic P21/n (M′=U) or cubic image (M′=W and Te). The tetragonal and orthorhombic symmetry reported earlier for Ba2SrTeO6 and Ba2CaUO6, respectively, were not observed. In addition, non-ambient X-ray diffraction data were collected and analyzed for Ba2SrWO6 and Ba2CaWO6 in the temperature range between 80 and 723 K. It was found that the rhombohedral image structure exists in Ba2SrWO6 above room temperature between the monoclinic and the cubic structure, whereas the cubic Ba2CaWO6 undergoes a structural phase transition at low temperature to the tetragonal I4/m structure.