BaFeO3-y compositions (0.35<y<0.50) have been investigated by means of electron diffraction and microscopy to resolve contradictory results from powder X-ray diffraction data.The samples were obtained by annealing BaFeO2.56 for 48 h. in the temperature range from 980°C to 1050°C . Total iron and barium in the samples were determined using chemical analysis and gravimetric methods, respectively.In the BaFeO3-y system, according to the electron diffraction and microscopy results, the nonstoichiometry is accommodated in different ways as a function of the composition (y):In the domain between BaFeO2.5+δBaFeO2.54, compositional variations are accommodated through the formation of microdomains. Fig. la shows the ED pattern of the BaFeO2.52 material along thezone axis. The corresponding electron micrograph is seen in Fig. 1b. Several domains corresponding to the monoclinic BaFeO2.50 phase, intergrow with domains of the orthorhombic phase. According to that, the ED pattern of Fig. 1a, can be interpreted as formed by the superposition of three types of diffraction maxima : Very strong spots corresponding to a cubic perovskite, a set of maxima due to the superposition of three domains of the monoclinic phase along [100]m and a series of maxima corresponding to three domains corresponding to the orthorhombic phase along the [100]o.
