The new vanadyl phosphate Na
4VO(PO
4)
2 was synthesized and investigated by X-raypowder and single-crystal diffraction, high-temperature X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction,high-resolution electron microscopy, thermal analysis, magnetic susceptibility, and conductivity measurements. The compound undergoes a reversible phase transition at about 200
C. The crystal structure of low-temperature
-Na
4VO(PO
4)
2 was solved using X-ray single-crystal data. This phase has an orthorhombic unit cell with lattice parameters
a = 16.0068(12)Å,
b = 14.5129(8) Å,
c = 7.0231(5) Å, S.G.
Pbca, and
Z = 8. The crystal structure of
-Na
4VO(PO
4)
2 is built by isolated chains formed by corner-shared V
4+O
6 octahedra linkedadditionally via corners by two PO
4 tetrahedra. All chains in the structure are equivalent.Na cations are located between the chains in an ordered manner. High-temperature
-Na
4VO(PO
4)
2 also has an orthorhombic cell with lattice parameters
a = 15.595(1) Å,
b = 14.651(2)Å,
c = 7.0262(6) Å, S.G.
Ibam, and
Z = 8. Electron diffraction study revealed an existenceof various structural transformations occurring in situ in the transmission electronmicroscope. In both
- and
-modifications, the susceptibility follows a Curie-Weiss lawwith a very small Curie-Weiss temperature, indicating a very weak magnetic exchangeamong the V
4+ ions.