Crystal growth and structural refinement of NaMn7O12

We report the crystal growth and the structural refinement of NaMn7O12, a manganite having a double perovskite structure. As in many similar compounds, there is coexistence of Mn3+ and Mn4+ but in this material they orderly occupy different sites for crystallographic reasons. Therefore, this peculiar structure can be considered as a model system for studying complex mechanisms such as charge, orbital and spin ordering. High purity bulk samples and "large" single crystals are needed to study tiny modifications in the crystallographic and magnetic structures associated to the ordering phenomena. Almost single phase (more than 96% pure) and single crystals (up to about 150 ?m) of NaMn7O12 were synthesized by solid state reaction under pressure in a multi-anvil apparatus. Single crystal x-ray diffraction and SEM analysis have been used to characterize the crystals. The structure refinement indicates that NaMn7O12 crystallizes in the cubic Im3 space group, with a = 7.312 Å and Z = 2. Further studies are in progress to optimize the synthesis conditions, in order to grow larger crystals