New epsilon-Bi2O3 metastable polymorph

Nicoleta Cornei (1) , Nathalie Tancret (2) , Francis Abraham (2) , Olivier Mentre (2)

1 Faculté de chimie Département de chimie inorganique
2 UCCS - Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide - UMR 8181

The new metastable epsilon-Bi2O3 polymorph has been prepared by hydrothermal treatment and structurally characterized. It shows strong relationships with the room temperature alpha form and the metastable beta form through rearrangements of [Bi2O3] columns formed by edge-sharing OBi4 tetrahedra. Its fully ordered crystal structure yields an ionic insulating character. It irreversibly transforms at 400°C to the alpha form. The chemical analysis indicates its undoped bismuth oxide nature, then leading to the fifth characterized Bi2O3 polymorph to date.

Domaines: Chimie inorganique

Nicoleta Cornei, Nathalie Tancret, Francis Abraham, Olivier Mentre. New epsilon-Bi2O3 metastable polymorph. Inorganic Chemistry, 2006, 45 (13), pp.4886-4888. ⟨10.1021/ic0605221⟩. ⟨hal-00105063⟩