Abstract
Single crystals and polycrystalline samples of barbosalite Fe3(PO4)2(OH)2 iron phosphate were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method at low pressure and temperature. Careful investigations of the crystal structure by high resolution X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy evidence a complex barbosalite framework where trimers of face sharing FeO6 octahedra along the <110> direction are connected by an additional Fe site, partly occupied. Despite this structural disorder, the spins order in a rather simple magnetic structure below 160 K. The corresponding magnetic point group of P21 makes the barbosalite a promising candidate for the design of new multiferroics.