Iridium, properties

The physical properties of the Selenium also offer big advantages with respect to radiation shielding and beam collimation. Within the comparison of radiation isodose areas the required area-radius for a survey of 40pSv/h result in a shut off area that is for Selenium only half the size as for iridium. Sources of similar activity and collimators of same absorbtion value (95%) have been used to obtain values as mentioned in Table 3 below. 

The second form consists of Pt metal but the iridium is present as iridium dioxide. Iridium metal may or may not be present, depending on the baking temperature (14). Titanium dioxide is present in amounts of only a few weight percent. The analysis of these coatings suggests that the platinum metal acts as a binder for the iridium oxide, which in turn acts as the electrocatalyst for chlorine discharge (14). In the case of thermally deposited platinum—iridium metal coatings, these may actually form an intermetallic. Both the electrocatalytic properties and wear rates are expected to differ for these two forms of platinum—iridium-coated anodes. 

The platinum-group metals (PGMs), which consist of six elements in Groups 8— 10 (VIII) of the Periodic Table, are often found collectively in nature. They are mthenium, Ru rhodium, Rh and palladium, Pd, atomic numbers 44 to 46, and osmium. Os indium, Ir and platinum, Pt, atomic numbers 76 to 78. Corresponding members of each triad have similar properties, eg, palladium and platinum are both ductile metals and form active catalysts. Rhodium and iridium are both characterized by resistance to oxidation and chemical attack (see Platinum-GROUP metals, compounds). 

Hardness of the aimealed metals covers a wide range. Rhodium (up to 40%), iridium (up to 30%), and mthenium (up to 10%) are often used to harden platinum and palladium whose intrinsic hardness and tensile strength are too low for many intended appHcations. Many of the properties of rhodium and indium. Group 9 metals, are intermediate between those of Group 8 and Group 10. The mechanical and many other properties of the PGMs depend on the physical form, history, and purity of a particular metal sample. For example, electrodeposited platinum is much harder than wrought metal. 

High Temperature Properties. There are marked differences in the abihty of PGMs to resist high temperature oxidation. Many technological appHcations, particularly in the form of platinum-based alloys, arise from the resistance of platinum, rhodium, and iridium to oxidation at high temperatures. Osmium and mthenium are not used in oxidation-resistant appHcations owing to the formation of volatile oxides. High temperature oxidation behavior is summarized in Table 4. 

Selected physical properties of rhenium are summarized ia Table 1. The metal is silvery-white and has a metallic luster. It has a high density (21.02 g/cm ). Only platinum, iridium, and osmium have higher densities. The melting poiat of rhenium is higher than that of all other elements except tungsten (mp 3410°C) and carbon (mp 3550°C). 

Table 26.1 Some properties of the elements cobalt, rhodium and iridium...

Ruthenium, iridium and osmium The use of a fused cyanide electrolyte is the most effective means for the production of sound relatively thick coatings of ruthenium and iridium, but this type of process is unattractive and inconvenient for general purposes and does not therefore appear to have developed yet to a significant extent for industrial application. This is unfortunate, since these metals are the most refractory of the platinum group and in principle their properties might best be utilised in the form of coatings. However, several interesting improvements have been made in the development of aqueous electrolytes. 

Catalysts. The methanation of CO and C02 is catalyzed by metals of Group VIII, by molybdenum (Group VI), and by silver (Group I). These catalysts were identified by Fischer, Tropsch, and Dilthey (18) who studied the methanation properties of various metals at temperatures up to 800°C. They found that methanation activity varied with the metal as follows ruthenium > iridium > rhodium > nickel > cobalt > osmium > platinum > iron > molybdenum > palladium > silver. 

Plutonium-noble metal compounds have both technological and theoretical importance. Modeling of nuclear fuel interactions with refractory containers and extension of alloy bonding theories to include actinides require accurate thermodynamic properties of these materials. Plutonium was shown to react with noble metals such as platinum, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and osmium to form highly stable intermetallics. 

The platinum-group metals comprise ruthenium (Ru), rhodium (Rh) and palladium (Pd) from the second transition series and osmium (Os), iridium(Ir), and platinum (Pt) from thethird transition series. Little or no C VD investigation of palladium and osmium have been reported and these metalsarenotincludedhere. The properties of the other platinum-group metals are summarized in Table 6.9. 

Hydride Complexes of Ruthenium, Rhodium, and Iridium G. L. Geoffroy and J. R. Lehman Structures and Physical Properties of Polynuclear Carboxylates Janet Catterick and Peter Thornton... 

Because of- the similarity in the backscattering properties of platinum and iridium, we were not able to distinguish between neighboring platinum and iridium atoms in the analysis of the EXAFS associated with either component of platinum-iridium alloys or clusters. In this respect, the situation is very different from that for systems like ruthenium-copper, osmium-copper, or rhodium-copper. Therefore, we concentrated on the determination of interatomic distances. To obtain accurate values of interatomic distances, it is necessary to have precise information on phase shifts. For the platinum-iridium system, there is no problem in this regard, since the phase shifts of platinum and iridium are not very different. Hence the uncertainty in the phase shift of a platinum-iridium atom pair is very small. 

It is a matter of historical interest that Mossbauer spectroscopy has its deepest root in the 129.4 keV transition line of lr, for which R.L. Mossbauer established recoilless nuclear resonance absorption for the first time while he was working on his thesis under Prof. Maier-Leibnitz at Heidelberg [267]. But this nuclear transition is, by far, not the easiest one among the four iridium Mossbauer transitions to use for solid-state applications the 129 keV excited state is rather short-lived (fi/2 = 90 ps) and consequently the line width is very broad. The 73 keV transition line of lr with the lowest transition energy and the narrowest natural line width (0.60 mm s ) fulfills best the practical requirements and therefore is, of all four iridium transitions, most often (in about 90% of all reports published on Ir Mossbauer spectroscopy) used in studying electronic stractures, bond properties, and magnetism. 

Wickman and Silverthom [276] have investigated bond properties in molecular adducts of the planar Vaska type compound frans-h s(triphenyl-phosphine)iridium carbonyl chloride, IrCl(CO) ((C6H5)3P)2, with small molecules such as H2, O2, CI2, I2, CH3I, and HCl. They essentially observed a decrease of the isomer shift in the following series of adduct molecules XY H2 > HCl > CH3J > O2 > I2 > CI2,... 

Presumably, the stereoselectivity in these cases is the result of coordination of iridium by the functional group. The crucial property required for a catalyst to be stereodirective is that it be able to coordinate with both the directive group and the double bond and still accommodate the metal hydride bonds necessary for hydrogenation. In the iridium catalyst illustrated above, the cyclooctadiene ligand (COD) in the catalysts is released by hydrogenation, permitting coordination of the reactant and reaction with hydrogen. 

The most common use of iridium coordination compounds remains in the catalysis field, although interest is developing in the luminescent properties of iridium compounds. The wide range of accessible oxidation states available to iridium (—1) to (VI) is reflected in the diverse nature of its coordination compounds. 

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