1. Raman studies of the intermediate tin-oxide phase
- Author
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Marcel Giar, Yunbin He, Angelika Polity, Martin Becker, Peter J. Klar, Bianca Eifert, Christian T. Reindl, Lilan Zheng, and Christian Heiliger
- Subjects
Materials science ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,Ab initio theory ,02 engineering and technology ,Crystal structure ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Tin oxide ,01 natural sciences ,0104 chemical sciences ,Crystallography ,symbols.namesake ,Phase (matter) ,symbols ,General Materials Science ,0210 nano-technology ,Raman spectroscopy ,Stoichiometry - Abstract
The existence of an intermediate phase of tin oxide was first reported in 1882. However, its stoichiometry and its crystal structure have been dubious and heavily debated ever since, despite a multitude of structural investigations. We show that Raman spectroscopy combined with ab initio theory offers a viable alternative for structure determination in cases where diffraction studies are inconclusive. We unambiguously identify the intermediate phase as ${\mathrm{Sn}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ and rule out the other likely candidate, ${\mathrm{Sn}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$. We assign the one-phonon Raman signals of ${\mathrm{Sn}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ to the mode symmetries of the corresponding point group ${C}_{2h}$ and confirm that $P{2}_{1}/c$ with 14 atoms per unit cell is the space group of ${\mathrm{Sn}}_{3}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$.
- Published
- 2017