Silver - Arsenic - Selenium

Yves Feutelais, Bernard Legendre, Slim Maâmar, Rainer Schmid-Fetzer, Julius C. Schuster and Christoph Wahl

Introduction

The ternary compound Ag₃AsSe₃(α) was synthesized from the elements in silica capsules. Peritectic melting was observed by DTA in the temperature range 375 to 400°C [57Wer, 72Kov, 72Tar, 78Sak, 81Hou]. The α-phase is stable at least down to 200°C [78Sak]. The rhombohedral structure of α has been determined in a detailed X-ray study on a synthetic single crystal [78Sak] and refined by [86Kih]. Lattice parameters agree with a powder X-ray study [74Vor, 76Vor], whereas earlier studies report different cell sizes [72Tar] or an unknown lattice [57Wer]. These deviations may be due to the fact that glass is formed upon quenching of liquid Ag₃AsSe₃ from 1000°C [78Sak...