Determination of cations distribution in Mn[subscript 3]O[subscript 4] by anomalous x-ray powder diffraction

The oxidation states of Mn at two different crystallographic sites in the distorted spinel structure of Mn{sub 3}O{sub 4} were determined by the approach of anomalous synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction. The real parts of anomalous scattering factors for the two Mn sites were refined from a series of powder diffraction patterns collected at the vicinity of K absorption edge of Mn. The results of Rietveld refinements showed that the two distinct cation sites can obviously be distinguished from each other and that Mn{sup 2+} ions occupy the tetrahedral site and Mn{sup 3+} ions are located at the octahedral site.