Thermal investigations of SmFeTeO6 and SmCrTeO6 compounds

SmFeTeO₆ and SmCrTeO₆ were synthesized by heating the respective oxides in molar quantities and characterized by X-ray technique. Thermogravimetric studies suggested that SmFeTeO₆ and SmCrTeO₆ vapourize incongruently according to the reactions: $$ \begin{aligned} {\text{SmFeTeO}}_{ 6}{({\text{s}})} & \to {\text{SmFeO}}_{ 3} {( {\text{s}})} + {\text{TeO}}_{ 2} {( {\text{g}})} + \left( { 1/ 2} \right){\text{O}}_{ 2}{( {\text{g}})} \\ {\text{SmCrTeO}}_{ 6} {( {\text{s}})} & \to {\text{SmCrO}}_{ 3} {( {\text{s}})} + {\text{TeO}}_{ 2}{( {\text{g}})} + \left( { 1/ 2} \right){\text{O}}_{ 2}{( {\text{g}})}. \\ \end{aligned} $$ X-ray diffraction data of both the compounds have been indexed on the hexagonal system. Partial pressures of TeO₂(g) were measured over SmFeO₃(s) and SmCrO₃(s) by employing the Knudsen effusion mass loss technique. The standard Gibbs free energy of formation of (Δ_f G°) SmFeTeO₆(s) and SmCrTeO₆(s) were obtained from partial pressures and represented by the following relations: $$\Updelta_{\text{f}} G^{\circ} \left( {{\text{SmFeTeO}}_{6}{( {{\text{s}},\,T})}} \right) \pm 2 5\,{\text{kJ}}\,{\text{mol}}^{ - 1} = - 1 5 1. 6 5+ 0. 1 5\left(T \right)\quad \left( 1 ,0 90{-} 1,1 80\,{\text{K}} \right) \\ \Updelta_{\text{f}} G^{\circ } \left( {{\text{SmCrTeO}}_{ 6} {( {{\text{s}},\,T})}} \right) \pm 2 5\,{\text{kJ}}\,{\text{mole}}^{ - 1} = - 2 5 2. 8 6+ 0. 1 2(T)\quad \left( { 1,100 {-} 1 , 1 7 5\,{\text{K}}} \right).$$