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Ionic Crystal Structures

Ionic Crystal Structures

Ionic crystals consist of two or more different kinds of ions that usually have different sizes. The packing of these ions into a crystal structure is more complex than the packing of metal atoms that are the same size.
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...

Ionic Bonding and Electron Transfer

Ionic Bonding and Electron Transfer

Ions are atoms or molecules bearing an electrical charge. A cation (a positive ion) forms when a neutral atom loses one or more electrons from its valence shell, and an anion (a negative ion) forms when a neutral atom gains one or more electrons in its valence shell. Compounds composed of ions are called ionic compounds (or salts), and their constituent ions are held together by ionic bonds: electrostatic forces of attraction between oppositely charged cations and anions.

Formation of Complex Ions

Formation of Complex Ions

A type of Lewis acid-base chemistry involves the formation of a complex ion (or a coordination complex) comprising a central atom, typically a transition metal cation, surrounded by ions or molecules called ligands. These ligands can be neutral molecules like H2O or NH3, or ions such as CN− or OH−. Often, the ligands act as Lewis bases, donating a pair of electrons to the central atom. These types of Lewis acid-base reactions are examples of a broad subdiscipline called coordination...

Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes

Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes

Crystal Field Theory
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...

Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes

Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes

Tetrahedral Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...

Ionic Bonds

Ionic Bonds

When atoms gain or lose electrons to achieve a more stable electron configuration they form ions. Ionic bonds are electrostatic attractions between ions with opposite charges. Ionic compounds are rigid and brittle when solid and may dissociate into their constituent ions in water. Covalent compounds, by contrast, remain intact unless a chemical reaction breaks them.Opposing Charges Hold Ions Together in Ionic CompoundsIonic bonds are reversible electrostatic interactions between ions with...

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Facet-to-facet Linking of Shape-anisotropic Colloidal Cadmium Chalcogenide Nanostructures

Facet-to-facet Linking of Shape-anisotropic Colloidal Cadmium Chalcogenide Nanostructures

Published on: August 10, 2017

Faceting ionic shells into icosahedra via electrostatics.

Graziano Vernizzi¹, Monica Olvera de la Cruz

¹Department of Materials Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|November 16, 2007

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Ionic shells can form icosahedral shapes with lower energy by breaking icosahedral symmetry. This discovery enables the design of new functional materials with diverse symmetries through electrostatic self-assembly.

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Biophysics
Crystallography

Background:

Spherical viruses and packed structures often display icosahedral symmetry due to tiling limitations on curved surfaces.
Icosahedral symmetry minimizes defects but differs from icosahedral shapes like fullerenes and vesicles.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a novel faceting mechanism for ionic shells to form icosahedral shapes.
To investigate how this mechanism breaks icosahedral symmetry and influences material properties.

Main Methods:

Modeling electrostatic interactions and lattice bending in ionic systems.
Analyzing the self-assembly of oppositely charged molecules with varying stoichiometric ratios.

Main Results:

Demonstrated a faceting mechanism that breaks icosahedral symmetry in ionic shells.
Showcased that icosahedral shapes without rotational symmetry can achieve lower energy than symmetric spheres.
Identified that preferred bending in planar ionic lattices drives this energy reduction.

Conclusions:

The electrostatic faceting mechanism allows for the creation of icosahedral shapes with broken symmetry.
This approach facilitates the design of novel functional materials with tunable symmetries.
Co-assembly of charged molecules offers a pathway to engineer faceted polyhedra with diverse structures.