Synthesis,Crystal Structure Determination,and Physical Properties of Ag5IO6

The silver iodate(VII), Ag₅IO₆, was obtained by reacting a stoichiometric mixture of Ag₂O and KIO₃, at elevated oxygen pressure, adding a small portion of distilled water. The synthesis was done at 673 K and 270 MPa of oxygen pressure. The crystal structure was solved by direct methods based on single crystal diffraction data ( , Z = 6, a = 5.9366(1), c = 32.1471(6) Å, 323 independent reflections, R₁ = 2.31 %). According to conductivity measurements, Ag₅IO₆ is semiconducting with a specific resistance of 0.08 Ωcm at 300 K. The activation energy was determined as 7.4(1) meV in the temperature range of 220 – 300 K, and 4.3(1) meV in the temperature range of 90 – 180 K. The optical band gap for Ag₅IO₆ is 1.4 eV. Ag₅IO₆ is diamagnetic with a magnetic susceptibility of ?4.4×10^?4 emu/mol.     

Nature of Equidistant Negative Differential Resonances in Tunneling Spectra of Ultrasmall Nanoparticles

JETP Letters - A model of tunneling multiresonant electronic transitions in nanocontacts containing ultrasmall nanoparticles with adsorbed atoms has been developed. Mechanisms of the formation of...     

Nature of tunneling electron spin resonance of an isolated surface spin

A phenomenological model has been proposed for tunneling electron spin resonance (ESR) of an isolated surface spin situated in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which explains the dependence of features (local maxima) of the tunneling current on the radio-frequency (RF) electric field and on the position of the tip with respect to the spin. A crossover of the line shape of the resonance signals, whose nature in weak and strong pumping fields corresponds to Lorentzian and Fano resonances, respectively, has been interpreted. New ESR–STM effects that are linear and nonlinear in the RF field and are promising for developing the methods of controlling spin qubits have been predicted.     

Uncommon structural and bonding properties in Ag16B4O10

Ag₁₆B₄O₁₀ has been obtained as a coarse crystalline material via hydrothermal synthesis, and was characterized by X-ray single crystal and powder diffraction, conductivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements, as well as by DFT based theoretical analyses. Neither composition nor crystal structure nor valence electron counts can be fully rationalized by applying known bonding schemes. While the rare cage anion (B₄O₁₀)⁸⁻ is electron precise, and reflects standard bonding properties, the silver ion substructure necessarily has to accommodate eight excess electrons per formula unit, (Ag⁺)₁₆(B³⁺)₄(O²⁻)₁₀ × 8e⁻, rendering the compound sub-valent with respect to silver. However, the phenomena commonly associated with sub-valence metal (partial) structures are not perceptible in this case. Experimentally, the compound has been found to be semiconducting and diamagnetic, ruling out the presence of itinerant electrons; hence the excess electrons have to localize pairwise. However, no pairwise contractions of silver atoms are realized in the structure, thus excluding formation of 2e–2c bonds. Rather, cluster-like aggregates of an approximately tetrahedral shape exist where the Ag–Ag separations are significantly smaller than in elemental silver. The number of these subunits per formula is four, thus matching the required number of sites for pairwise nesting of eight excess electrons. This scenario has been corroborated by computational analyses of the densities of states and electron localization function (ELF), which clearly indicate the presence of an attractor within the shrunken tetrahedral voids in the silver substructure. However, one bonding electron pair of s and p type skeleton electrons per cluster unit is extremely low, and the significant propensity to form and the thermal stability of the title compound suggest d¹⁰–d¹⁰ bonding interactions to strengthen the inter-cluster bonding in a synergistic fashion. With the present state of knowledge, such a particular bonding pattern appears to be a singular feature of the oxide chemistry of silver; however, as indicated by analogous findings in related silver oxides, it is evolving as a general one.

Ag₁₆B₄O₁₀, obtained via hydrothermal synthesis, displays an unprecedented bonding scheme, hosting excess electrons localized pairwise in cluster-like silver subunits.     

Synthesis and Crystal Structure Analysis of KAg11(VO4)4

New potassium silver vanadate KAg₁₁(VO₄)₄ was obtained by reacting the stoichiometric mixture of Ag₂O and V₂O₅ at elevated oxygen pressure, adding a small portion of aqueous KOH. The synthesis was done at 573 K and 430 MPa of oxygen pressure. The crystal structure was solved by direct methods basing on single crystal diffraction data (Pbca, Z = 4, a = 16.533(1), b = 10.6286(7), c = 10.5452(7) Å, 3983 independent reflections, R₁ = 5.4 %). The optical band gap for KAg₁₁(VO₄)₄ was determined as 2.0 eV. According to magnetic measurements, KAg₁₁(VO₄)₄ is diamagnetic.