Structure, crystal chemistry and thermal evolution of the δ-Bi₂O₃-related phase Bi₉ReO₁₇

The thermal evolution and structural properties of fluorite-related δ-Bi₂O₃-type Bi₉ReO₁₇ were studied with variable temperature neutron powder diffraction, synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and electron diffraction. The thermodynamically stable room-temperature crystal structure is monoclinic P2₁/c, a=9.89917(5), b=19.70356(10), c=11.61597(6) Å, β=125.302(2)° (R_p=3.51%, wR_p=3.60%) and features clusters of ReO₄ tetrahedra embedded in a distorted Bi-O fluorite-like network. This phase is stable up to 725 °C whereupon it transforms to a disordered δ-Bi₂O₃-like phase, which was modeled with δ-Bi₂O₃ in cubic Fm3̄m with a=5.7809(1) Å (R_p=2.49%, wR_p=2.44%) at 750 °C. Quenching from above 725 °C leads to a different phase, the structure of which has not been solved but appears on the basis of spectroscopic evidence to contain both ReO₄ tetrahedra and ReO₆ octahedra. Crown