DOE OSTI2020
CoNi2Se4 crystallizes in the monoclinic C2/m space group. The structure is three-dimensional. Co4+ is bonded to six Se2- atoms to form CoSe6 octahedra that share corners with twelve equivalent NiSe6 octahedra, edges with two equivalent CoSe6 octahedra, and faces with two equivalent NiSe6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedra tilt angles range from 48–55°. There are two shorter (2.43 Å) and four longer (2.45 Å) Co–Se bond lengths. Ni2+ is bonded to six Se2- atoms to form NiSe6 octahedra that share corners with six equivalent CoSe6 octahedra, edges with six equivalent NiSe6 octahedra, and a faceface with one CoSe6 octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedra tilt angles range from 48–55°. There are a spread of Ni–Se bond distances ranging from 2.39–2.55 Å. There are two inequivalent Se2- sites. In the first Se2- site, Se2- is bonded in a 5-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Co4+ and three equivalent Ni2+ atoms. In the second Se2- site, Se2- is bonded to one Co4+ and three equivalent Ni2+ atoms to form a mixture of distorted corner and edge-sharing SeCoNi3 trigonal pyramids.