The nature of the
superionic transition in Ag2
HgI4
and Cu2
HgI4
has been investigated using temper dependent powder neutron diffraction and impedance spectroscopy techniques. In the case of Ag2
HgI4
, the superionic
transition occurs at Tc
= 326(2) K and is accompanied by a 50-fold increase in the ionic conductivity. In the Cu+
analogue, which has a lower conductivity for a given temperature, the corresponding values are Tc
= 338(4) K and
/
~ 6. The ambient temperature crystal structures of the two compounds are different (space group I
for
-Ag2
HgI4
and I
2m
for
-Cu2
HgI4
) but, in contrast to the most recent study, the high temperature polymorphs are found to be isostructural (space group F
3m
). Possible explanations for the different behaviour of the ionic conductivity of the two compounds are given.