Study on Fe ion distribution in natural chromite by Moessbauer technique

Moessbauer absorption spectra in a natural chromite from Shanxi province of China were measured, covering a temperature range from 12 K to 800 K. Each spectrum at low temperature can be fitted to three doublets: the first two are attributed to tetrahedral T-site Fe ions and the third one to octahedral M-site Fe ions. Such assignment was confirmed by the detailed analyses of the temperature dependent centre shift and other parameters. As a main result, the data strongly supported the ordered distribution with Fe2+ in T-site and Fe3+ in M-site for chromite studied. No evidence for electron hopping processes was detected