What Is The Crystal Structure Of Nickel (II) Phosphate?

The crystal structure of nickel (II) phosphate is a three-dimensional network of corner-sharing NiO6 octahedra and PO4 tetrahedra. It belongs to the orthorhombic space group Pnma (No. 62) with lattice parameters of a = 8.794 Å, b = 6.203 Å, and c = 3.675 Å at room temperature. The coordination geometry of the Ni(II) ion is distorted octahedral with four oxygen atoms from PO4 tetrahedra and two water molecules in the equatorial plane. The Ni(II) ion is located on a center of inversion, and each PO4 tetrahedron is surrounded by four NiO6 octahedra. The crystal structure of nickel (II) phosphate exhibits a layered structure along the [010] direction, with each layer stacked along the [100] direction.