X-Ray diffraction determination of the cation distribution and oxygen positional parameter in polycrystalline spinels
Abstract
A critical assessment is made of the calculation procedures currently used for determining the cation distribution in spinels from X-ray powder diffraction data. Both binary and ternary spinels are considered. It is shown that X-ray powder diffraction, in conjunction with appropriate computational methods, has enough sensitivity to determine the cation distribution and oxygen positional parameter. A difference of one electron between two different cations can be enough to render them distinguishable.