Bismuth(III) oxide is perhaps the most industrially important compound of
bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental ...
. It is also a common starting point for bismuth chemistry. It is found naturally as the mineral
bismite
Bismite is a bismuth oxide mineral, bismuth trioxide or Bi2O3. It is a monoclinic mineral, but the typical form of occurrence is massive and clay-like with no macroscopic crystals. The color varies from green to yellow. It has a Mohs hardness of ...
(monoclinic) and sphaerobismoite (tetragonal, much more rare), but it is usually obtained as a by-product of the smelting of
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
ores. Dibismuth trioxide is commonly used to produce the "
Dragon's eggs" effect in
fireworks
Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...
, as a replacement of
red lead
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
.
[
]
Structure
The structures adopted by differ substantially from those of arsenic(III) oxide, , and antimony(III) oxide
Antimony(III) oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula Sb2O3. It is the most important commercial compound of antimony. It is found in nature as the minerals valentinite and senarmontite. Like most polymeric oxides, Sb2O3 dissolves i ...
, .[Wells, A.F. (1984) ''Structural Inorganic Chemistry''. 5th. London, England: Oxford University Press. p.890 ]
Bismuth oxide, has five crystallographic polymorphs. The room temperature phase, α- has a monoclinic
In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic s ...
crystal structure. There are three high temperature phases, a tetragonal
In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square ...
β-phase, a body-centred cubic
In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals.
There are three main varieties of ...
γ-phase, a cubic δ- phase and an ε-phase.
The room temperature α-phase has a complex structure with layers of oxygen atoms with layers of bismuth atoms between them. The bismuth atoms are in two different environments which can be described as distorted 6 and 5 coordinate respectively.
β- has a structure related to fluorite
Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon.
The Mohs sca ...
.
γ- has a structure related to that of ( sillenite), where a fraction of the Bi atoms occupy the position occupied by SiIV, and may be written as .
δ- has a defective fluorite
Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon.
The Mohs sca ...
-type crystal structure in which two of the eight oxygen sites in the unit cell are vacant.
ε- has a structure related to the α- and β- phases but as the structure is fully ordered it is an ionic insulator. It can be prepared by hydrothermal means and transforms to the α- phase at 400 °C.
The monoclinic
In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic s ...
α-phase transforms to the cubic δ- when heated above 729 °C, which remains the structure until the melting point, 824 °C, is reached. The behaviour of on cooling from the δ-phase is more complex, with the possible formation of two intermediate metastable
In chemistry and physics, metastability denotes an intermediate Energy level, energetic state within a dynamical system other than the system's ground state, state of least energy.
A ball resting in a hollow on a slope is a simple example of me ...
phases; the tetragonal
In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square ...
β-phase or the body-centred cubic
In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals.
There are three main varieties of ...
γ-phase. The γ-phase can exist at room temperature with very slow cooling rates, but α- always forms on cooling the β-phase. Even though when formed by heat, it reverts to α- when the temperature drops back below 727 °C, δ- can be formed directly through electrodeposition and remain relatively stable at room temperature, in an electrolyte of bismuth compounds that is also rich in sodium or potassium hydroxide so as to have a pH near 14.
Conductivity
The α-phase exhibits p-type electronic conductivity (the charge is carried by positive holes) at room temperature which transforms to n-type conductivity (charge is carried by electrons) between 550 °C and 650 °C, depending on the oxygen partial pressure.
The conductivity in the β, γ and δ-phases is predominantly ion
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
ic with oxide ions being the main charge carrier. Of these δ- has the highest reported conductivity. At 750 °C the conductivity of δ- is typically about 1 S cm−1, about three orders of magnitude greater than the intermediate phases and four orders greater than the monoclinic
In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic s ...
phase.
δ- has a defective fluorite-type crystal structure in which two of the eight oxygen sites in the unit cell are vacant. These intrinsic vacancies are highly mobile due to the high polarisability of the cation sub-lattice with the 6''s''2 lone pair
In chemistry, a lone pair refers to a pair of valence electrons that are not shared with another atom in a covalent bondIUPAC ''Gold Book'' definition''lone (electron) pair''/ref> and is sometimes called an unshared pair or non-bonding pair. Lone ...
electrons of . The Bi–O bonds have covalent bond
A covalent bond is a chemical bond that involves the sharing of electrons to form electron pairs between atoms. These electron pairs are known as shared pairs or bonding pairs. The stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms ...
character and are therefore weaker than purely ionic bonds, so the oxygen ions can jump into vacancies more freely.
The arrangement of oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
atoms within the unit cell of δ- has been the subject of much debate in the past. Three different models have been proposed. Sillén (1937) used powder X-ray diffraction on quenched samples and reported the structure of was a simple cubic phase with oxygen vacancies ordered along <111>, the cube body diagonal. Gattow and Schroder (1962) rejected this model, preferring to describe each oxygen site (8c site) in the unit cell as having 75% occupancy. In other words, the six oxygen atoms are randomly distributed over the eight possible oxygen sites in the unit cell. Currently, most experts seem to favour the latter description as a completely disordered oxygen sub-lattice accounts for the high conductivity in a better way.[
Willis (1965) used ]neutron diffraction
Neutron diffraction or elastic neutron scattering is the application of neutron scattering to the determination of the atomic and/or magnetic structure of a material. A sample to be examined is placed in a beam of thermal or cold neutrons to o ...
to study the fluorite () system. He determined that it could not be described by the ideal fluorite crystal structure, rather, the fluorine atoms were displaced from regular 8c positions towards the centres of the interstitial positions.[ Shuk et al. (1996)][ and Sammes et al. (1999)][ suggest that because of the high degree of disorder in δ-, the Willis model could also be used to describe its structure.
]
Use in solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs)
Interest has centred on δ- as it is principally an ionic conductor. In addition to electrical properties, thermal expansion
Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change its shape, area, volume, and density in response to a change in temperature, usually not including phase transitions.
Temperature is a monotonic function of the average molecular kinetic ...
properties are very important when considering possible applications for solid electrolytes. High thermal expansion
Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change its shape, area, volume, and density in response to a change in temperature, usually not including phase transitions.
Temperature is a monotonic function of the average molecular kinetic ...
coefficients represent large dimensional variations under heating and cooling, which would limit the performance of an electrolyte. The transition from the high-temperature δ- to the intermediate β- is accompanied by a large volume change and consequently, a deterioration of the mechanical properties of the material. This, combined with the very narrow stability range of the δ-phase (727–824 °C), has led to studies on its stabilization to room temperature.
easily forms solid solutions with many other metal oxides. These doped systems exhibit a complex array of structures and properties dependent on the type of dopant, the dopant concentration and the thermal history of the sample. The most widely studied systems are those involving rare earth metal oxides, , including yttria
Yttrium oxide, also known as yttria, is Y2 O3. It is an air-stable, white solid substance.
The thermal conductivity of yttrium oxide is 27 W/(m·K).
Uses Phosphors
Yttria is widely used to make Eu:YVO4 and Eu:Y2O3 phosphors that give the red ...
, . Rare earth metal cations are generally very stable, have similar chemical properties to one another and are similar in size to , which has a radius of 1.03 Å, making them all excellent dopants. Furthermore, their ionic radii decrease fairly uniformly from (1.032 Å), through (0.983 Å), (0.938 Å), (0.912 Å) and (0.89 Å), to (0.861 Å) (known as the "lanthanide contraction
The lanthanide contraction is the greater-than-expected decrease in atomic radii/ionic radii of the elements in the lanthanide series from atomic number 57, lanthanum, to 71, lutetium, which results in smaller than otherwise expected atomic radii ...
"), making them useful to study the effect of dopant size on the stability of the phases.
has also been used as sintering additive in the -doped zirconia system for intermediate temperature SOFC.
Preparation
The trioxide can be prepared by ignition of bismuth hydroxide
Bismuth hydroxide () is non-fully characterised chemical compound of bismuth. It is produced as white flakes when alkali is added to a solution of a bismuth salt and is usually described as bismuth oxide hydrate or bismuth hydrate.
Uses
Bismuth h ...
.[ Bismuth trioxide can be also obtained by heating bismuth subcarbonate at approximately 400 °C.]
Reactions
Atmospheric carbon dioxide or dissolved in water readily reacts with to generate bismuth subcarbonate
Bismuth subcarbonate (BiO)2CO3, sometimes written Bi2O2(CO3) is a chemical compound of bismuth containing both oxide and carbonate anions. Bismuth is in the +3 oxidation state. Bismuth subcarbonate occurs naturally as the mineral bismutite. Its ...
.[ Bismuth oxide is considered a basic oxide, which explains the high reactivity with . However, when acidic cations such as Si(IV) are introduced within the structure of the bismuth oxide, the reaction with do not occur.][
Bismuth(III) oxide reacts with a mixture of concentrated aqueous sodium hydroxide and bromine or aqueous potassium hydroxide and bromine to form ]sodium bismuthate
Sodium bismuthate is an inorganic compound, and a strong oxidiser with chemical formula NaBiO3. It is somewhat hygroscopic, but not soluble in cold water, which can be convenient since the reagent can be easily removed after the reaction. It is on ...
or potassium bismuthate, respectively.
Usage
Medical devices
Bismuth oxide is occasionally used in dental materials to make them more opaque to X-rays than the surrounding tooth structure. In particular, bismuth (III) oxide has been used in hydraulic silicate cements (HSC), originally in " MTA" (a trade name, standing for the chemically-meaningless "mineral trioxide aggregate
Mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) was developed for use as a dental root repair material by Mahmoud Torabinejad. It is formulated from commercial Portland cement, combined with bismuth oxide powder for radio-opacity. MTA is used for creating apical ...
") from 10 to 20% by mass with a mixture of mainly di- and tri-calcium silicate powders. Such HSC is used for dental treatments such as: apicoectomy, apexification Apexification is a method of dental treatment to induce a calcific barrier in a root with incomplete formation or open apex of a tooth with necrotic pulp. Pulpal involvement usually occurs as a consequence of trauma or caries involvement of young ...
, pulp capping, pulpotomy, pulp regeneration, internal repair of iatrogenic perforations, repair of resorption perforations, root canal sealing and obturation. MTA sets into a hard filling material when mixed with water. Some resin-based materials also include an HSC with bismuth oxide. Problems have allegedly arisen with bismuth oxide because it is claimed not to be inert at high pH, specifically that it slows the setting of the HSC, but also over time can lose color by exposure to light or reaction with other materials that may have been used in the tooth treatment, such as sodium hypochlorite.
Radiative cooling
Bismuth oxide was used to develop a scalable colored surface high in solar reflectance
Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refle ...
and heat emissivity for passive radiative cooling
Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) is a renewable cooling method proposed as a solution to global warming of enhancing terrestrial heat flow to outer space through the installation of thermally-emissive surfaces on Earth that require zer ...
. The paint was non-toxic and demonstrated a reflectance of 99% and emittance of 97%. In field tests the coating exhibited significant cooling power and reflected potential for the further development of colored surfaces practical for large-scale radiative cooling applications.
References
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bismuth(Iii) Oxide
Bismuth oxide
Bismuth(III) oxide is perhaps the most industrially important compound of bismuth. It is also a common starting point for bismuth chemistry. It is found naturally as the mineral bismite (monoclinic) and sphaerobismoite (tetragonal, much more rare ...
Pyrotechnic oxidizers
Sesquioxides