Structural flexibility in ∼SbVO4

similar to SbVO4 is a well known catalyst used for the ammoxidation of propane to acrylonitrile. However, little importance is usually given to the structural flexibility exhibited by the similar to SbVO4 phase, which has rutile-type structure and can accommodate up to 1/8 of cation vacancies. In this work we highlight the great structural flexibility exhibited by this phase accommodating the changes in the oxidation state of vanadium which is accompanied by the introduction of cation vacancies. Besides, it presents a wide range of compositional non-stoichiometry, ranging from a 1/1 vanadium/antimony molar ratio to almost 1/0. It is carried out in a soft way and does not involve the creation of extended structural defects but more subtle structural changes such as long-range order, structural modulations and short-range order. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.