High-pressure perovskites on the join CaTiO₃-FeTiO₃

An exploratory high-pressure study of the join CaTiO₃-FeTiO₃ has uncovered two intermediate perovskites with the compositions CaFe₃Ti₄O₁₂ and CaFeTi₂O₆. These perovskites have ordering of Ca²⁺ and Fe²⁺ on the A sites. Both of these perovskites are unusual in that the A sites containing Fe²⁺ are either square planar or tetrahedral, due to the particular tilt geometries of the octahedral frameworks. For CaFe₃Ti₄O₁₂, the structure has been refined from a powder using the Rietveld technique. This compound is a cubic double perovskite (SG Im {Mathematical expression}, a = 7.4672 Å), isostructural with NaMn₇O₁₂. Fe²⁺ is in a square-planar A site (similar to Mn³⁺ in NaMn₇O₁₂) with Fe-O = 2.042(3) Å, with distant second neighbors in a rectangle at Fe-O = 2.780(6) Å. Calcium is in a distorted icosahedron with Ca-O =2.635(5) Å. CaFeTi₂O₆ crystallizes in a unique tetragonal double perovskite structure (SG P4₂/nmc, a = 7.5157(2), c = 7.5548(2)), with A-site iron in square-planar (Fe-O = 2.097(2) Å) and tetrahedral (Fe-O = 2.084(2) Å) coordination, again with distant second neighbor oxygens near 2.8 Å. Rietveld refinement was also performed for the previously known perovskite-related form of FeTiO₃ recovered from high pressure (lithium niobate type). This compound is trigonal R3c, with a = 5.1233(1) and c = 13.7602(2). The ordered perovskites appear to be stable at 1215 GPa and CaFe₃Ti₄O₁₂ is found as low as 5 GPa. Thus these perovskites may be important to upper mantle mineralogy, particularly in kimberlites. These compounds are the first known quenchable perovskites with large amounts of A-site ferrous iron, and add greatly to the known occurrences of ferrous iron in perovskites.