Abstract
A mixed vanadium manganese oxide was synthesized through a chimie douce route. The synthesis proceeds via a cationic exchange reaction occurring between the layers of a synthetic rancieite, a lamellar manganic acid. The vanadium atoms were found to be at a distance from Mn close to the Mn–Zn distance in chalcophanite, a model for the phyllomanganates. XAS refinements did not reveal the presence of manganese atoms between the layers of either the protonic or Li-exchanged forms of the rancieite. Li insertion is largely impeded by the presence of dioxovanadium