Structural properties of Pb3Mn7O15 determined from high-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction

TL;DR

This study clarifies the crystal structure of Pb3Mn7O15 using high-resolution synchrotron diffraction, revealing its orthorhombic Pnma symmetry and layered nature, resolving previous conflicting reports.

Contribution

The paper provides a definitive high-resolution crystallographic analysis of Pb3Mn7O15, resolving prior discrepancies and detailing its 2D layered structure at various temperatures.

Findings

Pb3Mn7O15 has an orthorhombic Pnma structure.

The compound exhibits a pronounced 2D layered character.

Structural data was obtained across a temperature range of 15 K to 295 K.

Abstract

We report on the crystallographic structure of the layered compound Pb3Mn7O15. Previous analysis based on laboratory X-ray data at room temperature gave contradictory results in terms of the description of the unit cell. Motivated by recent magnetic bulk measurements of this system, we re-investigated the chemical structure with high-resolution synchrotron powder diffraction at temperatures between 15 K and 295 K. Our results show that the crystal structure of stoichiometric Pb3Mn7O15 has a pronounced 2-dimensional character and can be described in the orthorhombic space group Pnma.