Mixed valence europium nitridosilicate Eu2SiN3

The mixed valence europium nitridosilicate Eu(2)SiN(3) has been synthesized at 900 degrees C in welded tantalum ampules starting from europium and silicon diimide Si(NH)(2) in a lithium flux. The structure of the black material has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis (Cmca (no. 64), a = 542.3(11) pm, b = 1061.0(2) pm, c = 1162.9(2) pm, Z = 8, 767 independent reflections, 37 parameters, R1 = 0.017, wR2 = 0.032). Eu(2)SiN(3) is a chain-type silicate comprising one-dimensional infinite nonbranched zweier chains of corner-sharing SiN(4) tetrahedra running parallel [100] with a maximum stretching factor f(s) = 1.0. The compound is isostructural with Ca(2)PN(3) and Rb(2)TiO(3), and it represents the first example of a nonbranched chain silicate in the class of nitridosilicates. There are two crystallographically distinct europium sites (at two different Wyckoff positions 8f) being occupied with Eu(2+) and Eu(3+), respectively. (151)Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy of Eu(2)SiN(3) differentiates unequivocally these two europium atoms and confirms their equiatomic multiplicity, showing static mixed valence with a constant ratio of the Eu(2+) and Eu(3+) signals over the whole temperature range. The Eu(2+) site shows magnetic hyperfine field splitting at 4.2 K. Magnetic susceptibility measurements exhibit Curie-Weiss behavior above 24 K with an effective magnetic moment of 7.5 mu(B)/f.u. and a small contribution of Eu(3+), in accordance with Eu(2+) and Eu(3+) in equiatomic ratio. Ferromagnetic ordering at unusually high temperature is detected at T(C) = 24 K. DFT calculations of Eu(2)SiN(3) reveal a band gap of approximately 0.2 eV, which is in agreement with the black color of the compound. Both DFT calculations and lattice energetic calculations (MAPLE) corroborate the assignment of two crystallographically independent Eu sites to Eu(2+) and Eu(3+).