Bismuth borates: two new polymorphs of BiB3O6
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Published on: March 29, 2019
Linyan Li1, Guobao Li, Yingxia Wang
1State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
Abstract:
Two new polymorphs of BiB3O6 were identified at low temperatures using boric acid as a flux. Unlike alpha-BiB3O6, which crystallizes in a noncentrosymmetric space group and, thus, shows exceptional nonlinear optical (NLO) properties, beta-BiB3O6 (I) and gamma-BiB3O6 (II) crystallize in the centrosymmetric space group P2(1)/n with the following lattice parameters: a = 14.1664(1), b = 6.7514(1), c = 4.4290(1) angstroms, beta = 102.125(1) degrees for I; and a = 8.4992(1), b = 11.7093(1), c = 4.2596(1) angstroms, beta = 121.141(1) degrees for II. However, from the structural point of view, the three polymorphs of BiB3O6 are closely related. The structure of beta-BiB3O6 (I) contains a 2-dimensional borate layer, which could be considered to be an intralayered additive product of alpha-BiB3O6. On the other hand, the 3-dimensional borate framework in gamma-BiB3O6 (II) could be considered to be an interlayered additive product of beta-BiB3O6 (I). According to the synthesis experiments and calculated density, it is proposed that compounds I and II should be the low-temperature (high-pressure) polymorphs of BiB3O6.
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