Ligand-hole localization in oxides with unusual valence Fe

Unusual high-valence states of iron are stabilized in a few oxides. A-site-ordered perovskite-structure oxides contain such iron cations and exhibit distinct electronic behaviors at low temperatures, e.g. charge disproportionation (4Fe⁴⁺ → 2Fe³⁺ + 2Fe⁵⁺) in CaCu₃Fe₄O₁₂ and intersite charge transfer (3Cu²⁺ + 4Fe³·⁷⁵⁺ → 3Cu³⁺ + 4Fe³⁺) in LaCu₃Fe₄O₁₂. Here we report the synthesis of solid solutions of CaCu₃Fe₄O₁₂ and LaCu₃Fe₄O₁₂ and explain how the instabilities of their unusual valence states of iron are relieved. Although these behaviors look completely different from each other in simple ionic models, they can both be explained by the localization of ligand holes, which are produced by the strong hybridization of iron d and oxygen p orbitals in oxides. The localization behavior in the charge disproportionation of CaCu₃Fe₄O₁₂ is regarded as charge ordering of the ligand holes, and that in the intersite charge transfer of LaCu₃Fe₄O₁₂ is regarded as a Mott transition of the ligand holes.