The crystal structures of the polymer electrolyte complexes PEO6:LiPF6 and PEO6:LiSbF6 have been obtained from powder diffraction data collected from deuterated molecules on the OSIRIS neutron powder diffractometer at ISIS, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The structures are similar to that recently reported for the PEO6:LiAsF6 complex and consist of rows of Li+ ions encapsulated within columns formed by pairs of nonhelical PEO chains. The Li+ ion is coordinated by five ether oxygens. The anions reside between the columns and are not coordinated to the Li+ ions. Despite broad similarities, the structures do exhibit differences, and these differences are discussed.

A large coercive field, HC=20kOe, is obtained at room temperature in ε-Fe2O3 nanoparticles embedded in a silica matrix, produced by sol-gel chemistry. The combination of a relatively high magnetic anisotropy together with the small saturation magnetization are responsible for this large HC. Upon cooling, a strong reduction of HC is observed at T∼100K, which is accompanied by a drastic reduction of the squareness ratio MR∕MS. Neutron-diffraction measurements reveal the existence of a low-temperature magnetic transition to which the softening of this material can be ascribed.