Configurational electronic entropy and the phase diagram of mixed-valence oxides:: The case of LixFePO4

We demonstrate that configurational electronic entropy, previously neglected, in ab initio thermodynamics of materials can qualitatively modify the finite-temperature phase stability of mixed-valence oxides. While transformations from low-T ordered or immiscible states are almost always driven by configurational disorder (i.e., random occupation of lattice sites by multiple species), in FePO4-LiFePO4 the formation of a solid solution is almost entirely driven by electronic rather than ionic configurational entropy. We argue that such an electronic entropic mechanism may be relevant to most other mixed-valence systems.