Transition-metal
phosphates show a wide range of chemical compositions,
variations of the valence states, and crystal structures. They are
commercially used as solid-state catalysts, cathode materials in rechargeable
batteries, or potential candidates for proton-exchange membranes in
fuel cells. Here, we report on the successful ab initio structure
determination of two novel titanium pyrophosphates, Ti(III)p and Ti(IV)p,
from powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) data. The low-symmetry space
groups
P
2
1
/
c
for Ti(III)p and
P
1̅ for
Ti(IV)p required the combination of spectroscopic and diffraction
techniques for structure determination. In Ti(III)p, trivalent titanium
ions occupy the center of TiO
6
polyhedra, coordinated by
five pyrophosphate groups, one of them as a bidentate ligand. This
secondary coordination causes the formation of one-dimensional six-membered
ring channels with a diameter
d
max
of
3.93(2) Å, which is stabilized by NH
4
+
ions.
Annealing Ti(III)p in inert atmospheres results in the formation of
a new compound, denoted as Ti(IV)p. The structure of this compound
shows a similar three-dimensional framework consisting of [PO
4
]
3–
tetrahedra and Ti
IV+
O
6
octahedra and an empty one-dimensional channel with a diameter
d
max
of 5.07(1) Å. The
in situ
PXRD of the transformation of Ti(III)p to Ti(IV)p reveals a two-step
mechanism, i.e., the decomposition of NH
4
+
ions
in a first step and subsequent structure relaxation. The specific
proton conductivity and activation energy of the proton migration
of Ti(III)p, governed by the Grotthus mechanism, belong to the highest
and lowest, respectively, ever reported for this class of materials,
which reveals its potential application in electrochemical devices
like fuel cells and water electrolyzers in the intermediate temperature
range.