The crystal structure of arsenopalladinite, Pd8As2.5Sb0.5, and its relation to mertieite-II, Pd8Sb2.5As0.5

• Published in: Mineralogical magazine Vol. 84; no. 5; pp. 746 - 752
• Main Authors: Karimova, Oxana V, Zolotarev, Andrey A, Johanson, Bo S, Evstigneeva, Tatiyana L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Mineralogical Society 01.10.2020; Cambridge University Press
• Subjects: alluvium; Arsenic; arsenopalladinite; chemical composition; clastic sediments; Crystal structure; Data collection; Europe; Finland; heavy minerals; Inari Finland; Kaarreoja River; Lapland; Lapland Finland; lattice parameters; mertieite; Mineralogy; nonsilicates; Palladium; placers; Research parks; sand; Scandinavia; sediments; sulfosalts; Topology; Western Europe; X-ray diffraction; X-ray diffraction data; Brazil; Finland
• ISSN: 0026-461X; 1471-8022
• DOI: 10.1180/mgm.2020.65

The crystal structure of arsenopalladinite, Pd8As2.5Sb0.5, from the Kaarreoja River, Inari commune, Finnish Lapland, Finland, was solved to R1 = 0.0451 on the basis of single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The mineral is triclinic, space group P$\bar{1}$. The unit-cell parameters are: a = 7.3344(7), b = 7.3870(8), c = 7.5255(7) Å, α = 98.869(8), β = 102.566(8), γ = 119.096(11)°, V = 331.19(7) Å3 and Z = 2. The crystal structure of arsenopalladinite consists of an alternation of layers made by pnictogen (As, Sb) and layers made by palladium atoms stacked along the c axis. Arsenic and (As, Sb) nets exhibit a triangular topology (A and D nets), whereas palladium layers show triangular or pentagon-triangular nets (B and C nets). The unit-cell contains 6 layers, with the ABCDCBA stacking sequence. Although arsenopalladinite shows characteristics very similar (nets of the same topology) to the closely-related mineral mertieite-II, Pd8Sb2.5As0.5, it has a different stacking sequence.