Questions tagged [solid-state-chemistry]

Study of chemical species that are in solid phase, either in cases of their properties, or about ways of synthesizing them.

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Unexpectedly low melting point of Aluminium

According to Wikipedia, the melting point of aluminium is 933.47K (660 ºC) while the melting point of magnesium is 923K (650 ºC), yet the melting point of sodium is merely 370.87K (98 ºC). Huge ...
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Why does aluminum chloride have a higher lattice energy than aluminum fluoride?

From the table below (source: McMurry's Chemistry [1, p. 212]), it is evident that $\ce{AlCl_3}$ has a higher lattice energy than $\ce{AlF3},$ even though $\ce{F}$ is smaller than $\ce{Cl}$. Why is ...
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Why does the colour of the same compound (e.g. magnesium nitride) differ?

When I am searching the colour of $\ce{Mg3N2}$ I came across photos showing different colours: greenish-yellow on Wikimedia, and some other just yellow on some Google Images results. I am eager to ...
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3 votes
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Structure of crystalline boron trioxide

I recently came across the statement The structure of crystalline $\ce{B2O3}$ consists of $\ce{BO4}$ tetrahedra, two sets of which form two types of interconnected spiral chains, three $\ce{B-O}$ ...
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Why Frenkel defect does not impact the density of the solid?

The following text is from Chemistry Part I - Textbook for Class XII (NCERT), chapter "The Solid State", page 23, topic "1.9 Imperfections in Solids", sub topic "1.9.1 Types ...
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Why cobalt reacts favorably with nitrogen?

I used also iron, nickel, zinc, copper. However, cobalt gives the easiest and straight forward yield of nitrides (XPS and SAED verified). It is so easy to get cobalt nitride that I don't even have to ...
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Is there a "Comprehensive Solid State" book?

We have Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry, Comprehensive Organometallics, Comprehensive Organic Synthesis and probably few other similar works that aim to do a wide review of recent works at the ...
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Software for generating a lattice from a unit cell for molecular crystals?

I am looking for a software package which can take a unit cell (and lattice parameters, etc.) and from that generate a crystal lattice. Ideally it will have functionality for orthorhombic, hexagonal, ...
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Validity of Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for solids [duplicate]

Suppose there is a solid made of avogadro number of, say, aluminium atoms. This solid is kept at 273 K. According to Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, all the particles or atoms will not have the same ...
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Electrical and thermal conductivity of graphite

I was reading about carbon family where it was mentioned that electrical conductivity of graphite increases with temperature while thermal conductivity decreases. However, I could not find a suitable ...
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Do solids flow? [duplicate]

I am now confused whether solids flow or not. Some people say solidity is only a time scale notion. Some others say solids do not flow at all. While some authors say there is a threshold stress below ...
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Visualization of all hcp voids [duplicate]

There are 12 tetrahedral voids and 6 octahedral voids in hcp unit cell but I can't find any image that can show all tetrahedral voids and all octahedral voids in hcp unit cell (the common picture in ...
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Finding ionic radii from solubility data and density

$\pu{5.35 g}$ of a salt $\ce{ACl}$ is dissolved in $\pu{250 ml}$ of solution. The $\mathrm{pH}$ of the resultant solution was found to be $4.85.$ Find the ionic radius of $\ce{A+}$ and $\ce{Cl-}$ if ...
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What's the definition of multi phase materials? Does it mean the different phases represent different materials?

I'm from a CS background and just trying to understand the real meaning behind multi phase materials. Following is the experiment which drove me towards this question. With the help of DFT and ...
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Why doesn't tantalum and tungsten form amalgam?

User @Poutnik has recently answered a question in which he quoted this statement from Wikipedia: Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, the notable exceptions being iron, platinum, ...
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Why the bond angles of crystalline compounds uniform while in the amorphous state the same compound has non uniform bond angles?

For example, let us take amorphous and crystalline quartz. While in crystalline quartz all bond angles are uniform, in amorphous form bond angles vary even though quartz has the same valency. Why is ...
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How do hard drives store information using magnetic layering? (Antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic films)

I am doing some work with solid state materials in some chemistry courses and I've been doing some research into exactly how a hard drive stores information as 1's and 0's. It seems like a bunch of ...
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Contribution of Tetrahedral and Octahedral voids in HCP

I cannot find anywhere what the contribution of atoms situated at octahedral or tetrahedral voids in a HCP unit cell would be. I need to know this to be able to calculate the formula of a compound ...
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Oxidation states of Cu in YBa2Cu3O6 based on crystal structure [duplicate]

How does on go about this? I understand There is a +5 charge distributed on 3 copper ions. So either we have 2+, 2+ and 1+ or 3+, 1+, and 1+. Judging from the structure there are to unequivalent types ...
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Conversion of graphite into diamond [duplicate]

The standard state Gibbs free energies of formation of C(graphite) and C(diamond) at $T = \pu{298 K}$ are $\pu{0 kJ mol-1}$ and $\pu{2.9 kJ mol-1}$, respectively. The conversion of graphite [C(...
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Is there any book or text where ionic radius of elements are given?

So my research has me looking for ionic radius characterization. If anyone could post any link or give the name of any book where ionic radius of all elements are given that would be really great?
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Packing fractions of HCP and FCC

The packing fractions of hexagonal close packed unit cell and face centred cubic unit cell come out to be same when calculated geometrically. Is it just a coincidence? Differently put, could it be ...
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charge transfer between layers of graphite with stacking fault

As a general rule, we only expect two parts of a system to have the exact same amount of charge if they are symmetry-related to each other. How much charge transfer would occur in graphite with a ...
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1 answer
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Why does dielectric constant of crystal fluctuates in case of Frenkel defect in a crystal?

So I was studying Frenkel defect in crystal and came across this line that said The closeness of like charges tends to increase the dielectric constant of the crystal. I'm not able to understand ...
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Calculating the strength of an ionic bond that contains poly-atomic ions

So the bond association enthalpy for ionic compounds like $\ce{NaCl}$ and $\ce{NaBr}$ can be easily calculated from a Born-Haber cycle. But the way a Born-Haber cycle is constructed it uses info that ...
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Chemical formula of fluoroapatite

My textbook says the formula for fluoroapatite is $\ce{CaF2 * 3Ca3(PO4)2}$, whereas according to Wikipedia it's $\ce{Ca5(PO4)3F}$. What is the correct chemical formula of fluoroapatite and why there ...
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What does x mean in (1-x)A – xB composite materials, molar ratio, weight ratio or volume fraction?

I've been collecting data about ceramic materials and often I get to see composite materials are described as $(1-x)\ce{A} - x\ce{B}$. I am confused what this $x$ means. And I haven't seen any of the ...
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Is there an element with no liquid state? [closed]

I know this question might be dumb but, is there an element that will go directly from solid to gas, with almost no visible or no liquid state? Just a random curious question. I am asking if there is ...
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How does lime prevent soda lime glass from dissolving in water?

How does lime addition as an ingredient prevent soda lime glass from dissolving in water? Does it form calcium silicate in the process of melting?
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Influence of the neighbouring molecules in a crystal at the example of XeF4

For reasons of symmetry I (without deeper chemical knowledge) supposed, that $\ce{XeF4}$ has a shape like $\ce{CH4}$. But according to Wikipedia its crystalline structure was determined by both NMR ...
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Solid state and Bragg's Equation

A frst order reflection from (111) plane is observed for LiX with 2theta =24.6 degree (X-ray of wavelength 1.54 angstrom). Assuming LiX to be a cubic crystal system, calculate the length of the side ...
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How do I know crystal structures from formula?

Give an explanation why $\ce{MgF2}$ and $\ce{CaF2}$ adopt different structure types. For example, the structure of calcium fluoride is 'fluorite' and the structure of magnesium fluoride is 'rutile'. ...
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2 votes
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vapor pressure of one part of binary compound

Let's say we have a binary compound AB in an enclosed container, and let's say there's a tendency to form B-vacancies so that B atoms/molecules escape and form a vapor. Let's assume there's enough of ...
7 votes
1 answer
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Why do we need to add hydrogen to amorphous silicon?

I was recently studying about Staebler-Wronski effect observed in amorphous silicon (a-Si). I realised it was due to imperfections in the lattice structure and breaking of Si-Si bond to Si-H bonds. ...
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Putting high symmetry points labels to a band structure plot

So far I've got this plot using Quantum Espresso. I want to put gamma, X, L, etc labels to the k-path. Quantum Espresso's ouput states the following: ...
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Comparing the Lattice energy of different compounds

I am confused about some concepts related to Lattice energy. First of all,how to compare lattice energy between $2$ compounds belonging to different groups and periods? 1.Between $\ce{AlF3}$ and $\...
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Effective diffusion coefficient of a species in a heterogeneous mixture

I want to calculate the effective diffusion coefficient of hydrogen radical in a mixed-phase consisting of metal oxide, metal hydride and metal. I consider the interfaces to be diffuse. How can I ...
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Silver in defect chemistry

When talking about conductivity in combination with lattice defects you can often see that AgX is taken as an example for a Frenkel defect where the $\ce{Ag^+}$ moves to intersticial voids. I remember ...
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Diffusion equation I can't seem to find anywhere

So I was looking through some old lecture notes from a few years back when I stumbled upon a useful and simple equation that should, according to my former professor describe the diffusion in solid ...
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Number of octahedral and tetrahedral voids present in a HCP structure

The given image depicts the tetrahedral and octahedral voids in HCP structure. For the tetrahedral part I figured out that there would be 6 tetrahedral voids in total. My visualisation: In the ...
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How does a molecule find the lowest energy state? [closed]

I understand that in a crystal lattice the molecule will tend towards the structure that is the lowest in energy (fcc, hcp, ccp, etc.). How does the molecule find these lowest energy states? Is it ...
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Does a molecule need to be placed symmetrically in the unit cell?

I was watching an OCW by MIT (3.091X) on solid state. My previous notion of lattice point and unit cell got shattered after this example. Where are the unit cell and lattice points in this picture? ...
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Solid structures related question [closed]

In which of the following compounds are all tetrahedral voids vacant? $\ce{NaCl(s)}$ $\ce{CaF2(s)}$ $\ce{ZnS(s)}$ $\ce{Na2O(s)}$ Kindly explain what this question asks from me and provide a ...
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Understanding Equivalent Wyckoff positions

I'm somewhat confused by the concept of Wyckoff positions in crystal structures. From Quantum Chemistry of Solids by Robert Evarestov, the definition of a Wyckoff position is "all the crystallographic ...
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Coordination number of spheres (all identical) in hexagonal close packing (HCP)

I was revising solid state chapter when I came across this question What is the maximum coordination number of an atom in a hcp crystal structure of an element? The word 'maximum' drew my ...
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ABC arrangement of FCC/CCP

I know that FCC shows ABC type but I am confused about it. For simple cubic and body centered, it is pretty easy to work out the packing arrangement but FCC is giving me a headache. What is this ...
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Calculate the third and fourth nearest neighbours in bcc

My textbook has given data for third and fourth nearest neighbours to be 12 and 8 with distances $\sqrt{2}a$ and $\frac{\sqrt{11}a}{2}$. I have been able to calculate for the first and second ...
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In a copper wire, how many electrons does each atom give away?

As an ion, copper can give off 1, 2, 3 or 4 electrons. But it has 1 s electron in the last shell and 10 d electrons. So as a metal, how many of those are delocalised and free to move around, and how ...
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How can a vacancy defect be a stoichiometry defect?

NCERT (India) explain stoichiometric defects as those defects which do not disturb the stoichiometry of the solid. Vacancy defects are stated to be under the category of stoichiometric defects. When ...
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Formation of strontium peroxide

Wikipedia states: Strontium peroxide is produced by passing oxygen over heated strontium oxide. Upon heating in the absence of $\ce{O2}$, it degrades to $\ce{SrO}$ and $\ce{O2}$. I found some ...
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