Crystal growth and structure of three new neodymium containing silicates: Na0.50Nd4.50(SiO4)3O, Na0.63Nd4.37(SiO4)3O0.74F0.26 and Na4.74Nd4.26(O0.52F0.48)[SiO4]4

•Three Nd containing silicates have been synthesized and characterized.•Na0.50Nd4.50(SiO4)3O, Na0.63Nd4.37(SiO4)3O0.74F0.26 are apatite structures.•Eutectic flux crystal growth was used to synthesize these new silicate structures.

Single crystals of Na0.50Nd4.50(SiO4)3O, Na0.63Nd4.37(SiO4)3O0.74F0.26, and Na4.74Nd4.26(O0.52F0.48)[SiO4]4 were synthesized via flux growth using a NaF/KF eutectic flux and the crystal structure was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Na0.50Nd4.50(SiO4)3O and Na0.63Nd4.37(SiO4)3O0.74F0.26 adopt the apatite structure and crystallize in the hexagonal space group P63/m, while Na4.74Nd4.26(O0.52F0.48)[SiO4]4 crystallizes in the tetragonal space group I-4 and exhibits rare-earth mixing on the sodium site. The unit cells of the crystals are a = 9.5400(3) Å and c = 7.0331(5) Å for Na0.50Nd4.50(SiO4)3O, a = 9.5533(3) Å and c = 7.0510(4) Å for Na0.63Nd4.37(SiO4)3O0.74F0.26, and a = 12.1255(3) Å and c = 5.4656(2) Å for Na4.74Nd4.26(O0.52F0.48)[SiO4]4. These three compounds exhibit three-dimensional crystal structures that are discussed in detail in this paper.

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