Formula EuS Appearance black powder | Molar mass 184.03 g/mol | |
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Europium (II) sulfide is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula EuS. It is a black, air-stable powder. Europium possesses an oxidation state of +II in europium sulfide, whereas the lanthanides exhibit a typical oxidation state of +III. Its Curie temperature (Tc) is 16.6 K. Below this temperature EuS behaves like a ferromagnetic compound, and above it exhibits simple paramagnetic properties. EuS is stable up to 500 °C in air, when it begins to show signs of oxidation. In an inert environment it decomposes at 1470 °C.
Contents
Structure
EuS crystallizes in face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal lattice with the rock salt structure. Both europium and sulfur have octahedral coordination geometry with a coordination number of six. The Eu-S bond lengths are 2.41 Å.
Preparation
In the preparation of EuS, powdered europium(III) oxide (Eu2O3) is treated with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) at 1150 °C. The crude EuS product is purified by heating at 900 °C under vacuum to remove excess sulfur.
Eu2O3 + 3 H2S → 2 EuS + 3 H2O + SEuS has additionally been synthesized from europium dichloride (EuCl2), however, such products tend to be contaminated by chloride.
Applications
In the past few decades, a new interest has been exhibited in the synthesis of EuS, as well as its oxygen analog EuO, because of their potential use as laser window materials, insulating ferromagnets, ferromagnetic semiconductors, and magnetoresistant, optomagnetic, and luminescent materials.