DOE OSTI2020
NaCo2O4 crystallizes in the orthorhombic Amm2 space group. The structure is two-dimensional and consists of one NaCo2O4 sheet oriented in the (0, 0, 1) direction. Na1+ is bonded to six equivalent O2- atoms to form distorted NaO6 pentagonal pyramids that share corners with six equivalent CoO6 octahedra, edges with six equivalent CoO6 octahedra, and edges with six equivalent NaO6 pentagonal pyramids. The corner-sharing octahedra tilt angles range from 9–12°. There are two shorter (2.36 Å) and four longer (2.38 Å) Na–O bond lengths. Co+3.50+ is bonded to six O2- atoms to form CoO6 octahedra that share corners with three equivalent NaO6 pentagonal pyramids, edges with six equivalent CoO6 octahedra, and edges with three equivalent NaO6 pentagonal pyramids. There are a spread of Co–O bond distances ranging from 1.88–2.16 Å. There are two inequivalent O2- sites. In the first O2- site, O2- is bonded to three equivalent Na1+ and three equivalent Co+3.50+ atoms to form a mixture of edge, corner, and face-sharing ONa3Co3 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedra tilt angles range from 41–47°. In the second O2- site, O2- is bonded in a distorted trigonal non-coplanar geometry to three equivalent Co+3.50+ atoms.