Reply to “Structural and magnetic behavior of the cubic oxyfluoride SrFeO2F studied by neutron diffraction”

• Published in: Journal of solid state chemistry 2015-03, Vol.226, p.326-331
• Main Authors: Clemens, Oliver, Berry, Frank J., Wright, Adrian J., Knight, Kevin S., Perez-Mato, J.M., Igartua, J.M., Slater, Peter R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Magnetic scattering; Neutron diffraction; Perovskite; SrFeO2F
• ISSN: 0022-4596; 1095-726X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jssc.2015.02.022

In this article we comment on the results published by Thompson et al. (, J. Solid State Chem. 219 (2014) 173–178) on the crystal structure of SrFeO2F, who claim the compound to crystallize in the cubic space group Pm-3m. We give a more detailed explanation of the determination of our previously reported structural model with Imma symmetry (Clemens et al., J. Solid State Chem. 206 (2013) 158–169), with addition of variable temperature XRD measurements with high counting time to provide unambiguous evidence for the Imma model being correct for our sample. The crystal structure of SrFeO2F is discussed with regards to previous reports. [Display omitted] •SrFeO2F was synthesized by polymer based fluorination of SrFeO3.•Evaluation of the diffraction data shows a pseudocubic cell metric.•Superstructure reflections at low d-spacings indicate deviation from cubic symmetry.•The phase transition temperature from orthorhombic to cubic was determined using variable temperature X-ray diffraction.•Results published by Thompson et al. are critically discussed with respect to those observations.