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Structural complexity in Prussian blue analogues
John Cattermull1,2, Mauro Pasta2, Andrew L Goodwin1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QR, UK.
Abstract:
We survey the most important kinds of structural complexity in Prussian blue analogues, their implications for materials function, and how they might be controlled through judicious choice of composition. We focus on six particular aspects: octahedral tilts, A-site 'slides', Jahn-Teller distortions, A-site species and occupancy, hexacyanometallate vacancies, and framework hydration. The promising K-ion cathode material KMn[Fe(CN)6] serves as a recurrent example that illustrates many of these different types of complexity. Our article concludes with a discussion of how the interplay of various distortion mechanisms might be exploited to optimise the performance of this and other related systems, so as to aid in the design of next-generation PBA materials.
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