Vanadium trimers randomly aligned along the c-axis direction in layered LiVO2

TL;DR

This study identifies the arrangement of vanadium trimers in layered LiVO2 and LiVS2, revealing random alignment in LiVO2 and ordered patterns in LiVS2, thus clarifying the cluster formation mechanism in these materials.

Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed structural analysis of vanadium trimer arrangements in LiVO2 and LiVS2, resolving previous uncertainties about their cluster patterns.

Findings

Vanadium trimers are randomly aligned along the c-axis in LiVO2.

LiVS2 exhibits long-range ordering of vanadium trimers.

Results clarify the mechanism of trimer formation in layered vanadium oxides.

Abstract

Herein, we discuss the identification of vanadium trimers in layered LiVO2 and its sulfide analog of LiVS2 with two-dimensional triangular lattices. Our comprehensive structural studies using synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments clarified that vanadium trimers are randomly aligned along the c-axis direction in LiVO2, while the long-range ordering of vanadium trimers along the c-axis direction appears in LiVS2. Our results solve the longstanding issue of cluster patterns in LiVO2 and provide an experimental basis for identifying the mechanism of trimer formation.