While BIMEVOX systems have attracted
attention for their fast oxide-ion
conductivity at intermediate temperatures, there are only a limited
number of reports concerning their local structure. In this work,
both long-range and local structures in the Bi2V1–x
Ga
x
O5.5–x–δ (BIGAVOX, 0.025 ≤ x ≤ 0.40) system are investigated using X-ray powder
diffraction (XRD) and a combination of X-ray total scattering, 51V and 71Ga solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR), and Raman spectroscopy, supported by electrical measurements
using a.c. impedance spectroscopy. The three main BIMEVOX polymorphs,
α, β, and γ, are observed at room temperature over
the compositional ranges 0.025 ≤ x < 0.10,
0.10 ≤ x < 0.20, and 0.20 ≤ x < 0.40, respectively. Above x = 0.10,
as more Ga is introduced into the lattice, a general growth of the
distance between bismuthate and vanadate layers is observed, indicating
increasing ionicity in the interaction between these layers. Ga is
found to adopt octahedral and tetrahedral geometries, while V polyhedra
include tetrahedral, pentacoordinate, and octahedral geometries. With
increasing x-value, as the vacancy concentration
increases, more octahedral V polyhedra transform to lower coordinate
geometries, resulting in a decrease in the average V–O bond
length. Reversible α ↔ β and β ↔ γ
phase transitions are observed on heating the x =
0.05 composition, while the β ↔ γ and γ′
↔ γ phase transitions are observed on heating the x = 0.15 and 0.20 compositions, respectively. The γ-BIGAVOX
compositions (x = 0.20 and 0.25) generally show a
high conductivity of ∼10–2 S cm–1 at 600 °C.