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Hidden Diversity of Vacancy Networks in Prussian Blue Analogues

Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) are a broad and important family of microporous inorganic solids, famous for their gas storage, metal-ion immobilisation, proton conduction, and stimuli-dependent magnetic, electronic and optical properties. The family also includes the widely-used double-metal cyanide (DMC) catalysts and the topical hexacyanoferrate/hexacyanomanganate (HCF/HCM) battery materials. Central to the various physical properties of PBAs is the ability to transport mass reversibly, a process made possible by structural vacancies. Normally presumed random, vacancy arrangements are actually crucially important because they control the connectivity of the micropore network, and hence diffusivity and adsorption profiles. The long-standing obstacle to characterising PBA vacancy networks has always been the relative inaccessibility of single-crystal samples. Here we report the growth of single crystals of a range of PBAs. By measuring and interpreting their X-ray diffuse scattering patterns, we identify for the first time a striking diversity of non-random vacancy arrangements that is hidden from conventional crystallographic analysis of powder samples. Moreover, we show that this unexpected phase complexity can be understood in terms of a remarkably simple microscopic model based on local rules of electroneutrality and centrosymmetry. The hidden phase boundaries that emerge demarcate vacancy-network polymorphs with profoundly different micropore characteristics. Our results establish a clear foundation for correlated defect engineering in PBAs as a means of controlling storage capacity, anisotropy, and transport efficiency.