Vacancy ordering and electronic structure of γ-Fe₂O₃ (maghemite): a theoretical investigation.

The crystal structure of the iron oxide γ-Fe₂O₃ is usually reported in either the cubic system (space group P4(3)32) with partial Fe vacancy disorder or in the tetragonal system (space group P4(1)2(1)2) with full site ordering and c/a≈3. Using a supercell of the cubic structure, we obtain the spectrum of energies of all the ordered configurations which contribute to the partially disordered P4(3)32 cubic structure. Our results show that the configuration with space group P4(1)2(1)2 is indeed much more stable than the others, and that this stability arises from a favourable electrostatic contribution, as this configuration exhibits the maximum possible homogeneity in the distribution of iron cations and vacancies.