title: Incorporation of Thorium in the Zircon Structure Type through the Th1-xErx(SiO4)1-x(PO4)xThorite-Xenotime Solid Solution.
abstract: Pure powdered compounds with a general formula Th1-xErx(SiO4)1-x(PO4)xbelonging to the zircon-xenotime family were successfully synthesized under hydrothermal conditions (250 °C, 7 days) as recently reported for the preparation of coffinite. Therefore, a thorough, combined PXRD, EDX, EXAFS, Raman, and FTIR analysis showed the formation of a solid solution in agreement with Vegard's law. Moreover, the examination of the local structure shows that the Th-O distances remain close to those found in ThSiO4, whereas the Er-O distances show a significant decrease from 2.38(14) to 2.34(7) Å when increasing the erbium content from x = 0.2 to x = 1. The variation of the local structure also affects the PO43-groups that are surely distorted in the structure.
authors.affiliation: ICSM, UMR 5257 CEA/CNRS/ENSCM/University of Montpellier , Site de Marcoule-Bât. 426, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex, France.
authors.forename: Adel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mesbah
authors.affiliation: ICSM, UMR 5257 CEA/CNRS/ENSCM/University of Montpellier , Site de Marcoule-Bât. 426, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Clavier
authors.affiliation: HZDR, Institute of Resource Ecology, The Rossendorf Beamline at ESRF , P.O. Box 220, 38043 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: M Janeth
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lozano-Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: ICSM, UMR 5257 CEA/CNRS/ENSCM/University of Montpellier , Site de Marcoule-Bât. 426, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex, France.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Szenknect
authors.affiliation: ICSM, UMR 5257 CEA/CNRS/ENSCM/University of Montpellier , Site de Marcoule-Bât. 426, BP 17171, 30207 Bagnols-sur-Cèze cedex, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dacheux