Mixed oxide

In chemistry, a mixed oxide is a somewhat informal name for an oxide that contains cations of more than one chemical element or cations of a single element in several states of oxidation.

The term is usually applied to solid ionic compounds that contain the oxide anion O and two or more element cations. Typical examples are ilmenite (FeTiO₃), a mixed oxide of iron (Fe) and titanium (Ti) cations, the mineral perovskite and oxides sharing the perovskite structure and garnet. The cations may be the same element in different ionization states: a notable example is magnetite Fe₃O₄, which contains the cations Fe ("ferrous" iron) and Fe ("ferric" iron) in 1:2 ratio. Other notable examples include the ferrites, strontium titanate SrTiO₃ (which, despite its name, contains Ti cations and not the TiO₃ anion), yttrium aluminum garnet Y₃Al₅O₁₂, and many more. Sometimes the term is applied loosely to solid solutions of metal oxides rather than chemical compounds