The preparation,phase relationships,and Eu-151 Mössbauer spectroscopy of europium tungsten bronzes and related phases

Crystal chemistry and phase relations for the bronze-forming region of the EuWO system have been investigated. A bronze Eu_xWO₃ is stable up to 1000°C when x ? 0.125 and in the region 0.085 ? x ? 0.125 the symmetry is cubic. A tetragonal bronze exists at x = 0.05, and an orthorhombic bronze with a structure closely related to the orthorhombic form of WO₃ exists below x = 0.01. Mössbauer spectra at room temperature and at 80 K indicate that in all these phases the europium is highly ionized as Eu(III) with no electron localization to give (EuII) even at low values for x. The decomposition products of the bronzes have been established, and the Mössbauer parameters for the highly nonstoichiometric tungstates Eu_xWO₄ were determined. Both Eu(II) and Eu(III) resonances were obtained, and a cation vacancy model for Eu_xWO₄ was found to fit the data best. In conformity with the foregoing data, a sample of composition “Eu₂W₂O₇” was found not be be a pyrochlore but to comprise a mixture of Eu₆WO₁₂, Eu_xWO₄, and W. The phase relationships for the europium bronze system Eu_xWO₃ are compared with those of other ionic bronzes Na_xWO₃, Li_xWO₃, and Al_xWO₃.