Identification of the Li sites in the Li ion conductor, Li6SrLa2Nb2O12, through neutron powder diffraction studies

In this paper a neutron powder diffraction structural study of the Li ion conducting garnet-related system, Li₆SrLa₂Nb₂O₁₂, is reported. The results show that this phase is cubic, space group Ia-3d, and contains Li in two partially occupied crystallographic sites. The first site, Li1, corresponds to the ideal tetrahedral site in the garnet framework and possesses an occupancy of 0.59(1). The second site, Li2, is significantly more distorted and possesses an occupancy of 0.352(3). Compared to the related Li₅La₃Nb₂O₁₂ system, the Li2 site occupancy is greatly increased, while the Li1 site occupancy is reduced. Despite these large differences in site occupancies, the reported conductivities for Li₅La₃Nb₂O₁₂ and Li₆SrLa₂Nb₂O₁₂ are similar, showing the complexities of these new garnet Li ion conductors.