Building alkali-metal-halide layers within a perovskite host by sequential intercalation: (A(2)Cl)LaNb(2)O(7) (A = Rb, Cs).

Alkali-metal-halide layers were constructed within Dion-Jacobson (DJ) layered perovskites by a two-step sequential intercalation method. Reductive intercalation with an alkali metal, followed by oxidative intercalation with chlorine gas, leads to the formation of the compounds, (A(2)Cl)LaNb(2)O(7) (A = Rb, Cs). Rietveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction data shows that an alkali-metal-halide layer is formed between the perovskite blocks. The alkali-metal cation is eight-coordinate with four oxygens from the perovskite layer and four chlorides from the new halide layer; this environment is similar to cesium in the CsCl structure (B2). Thermal analysis indicates that these are low-temperature phases where decomposition begins by 400 degrees C. Details on the synthesis and characterization of this set of compounds are presented, and the general utility of this approach discussed.