Solubility solid-state materials

Many of the techniques used for producing single crystals in molecular systems are simply not applicable to solid state materials. For example, solid state oxides such as the spinels (AB2O4) are not soluble in any solvent, at any temperature, so cannot be grown by solidification. However, there are two methods which are frequently used to produce single crystals from such materials. 

Hydrothermal methods can be used to form solid state materials, providing the reactants are soluble. Slow cooling from solution can be one way to form single crystals. 

Boron suboxides have boron oxygen mole ratios equal to or greater than one. These compounds range from molecular species to refractory solid-state materials. Monomeric vapor-phase BO and B2O2 have been studied by spectroscopic techniques. In addition to these rather unstable high-temperature species, several forms of solid noncrystalline boron suboxides have been reported. A water-soluble low-temperature form is obtained by the vacuum dehydration of tetrahydroxydiborane at 220°C (equation 5). At 500 °C, this form converts to a light brown modification that has also been obtained by reactions of boric oxide with elemental boron, boron carbide, or carbon at high temperatures (>1250 °C). 

Catellani, M. Porzio, W. Musco, A. Pontellini, R., "Synthesis and Characterization of Soluble Alkyl Substituted Poly(2,5-Thienylene Vinylenes)", p. 681 inChiang, L.Y. Garito, A.F. Sandman, D.J. (Eds.), Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Vol. 247 Electrical, Optical, and Magnetic Properties of Organic Solid State Materials, Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (1992). 

The energetics and wetting properties of solid-state materials are of great importance in the performance of pharmaceutical and chemical materials. A detailed knowledge on the surface chemical behavior will assist in predicting surface properties such as solubility, adhesion, surfactant adsorption, and many others. 

The materials for solid solutions of transition elements in j3-rh boron are prepared by arc melting the component elements or by solid-state diffusion of the metal into /3-rhombohedral (/3-rh) boron. Compositions as determined by erystal structure and electron microprobe analyses together with the unit cell dimensions are given in Table 1. The volume of the unit cell (V ) increases when the solid solution is formed. As illustrated in Fig. 1, V increases nearly linearly with metal content for the solid solution of Cu in /3-rh boron. In addition to the elements listed in Table 1, the expansion of the unit cell exceeds 7.0 X 10 pm for saturated solid solutions " of Ti, V, (2o, Ni, As, Se and Hf in /3-rh boron, whereas the increase is smaller for the remaining elements. The solubility of these elements does not exceed a few tenths at %. The microhardness of the solid solution increases with V . Boron is a brittle material, indicating the accommodation of transition-element atoms in the -rh boron structure is associated with an increase in the cohesion energy of the solid. 

In addition to metals, other substances that are solids and have at least some electronic conductivity can be used as reacting electrodes. During reaction, such a solid is converted to the solid phase of another substance (this is called a solid-state reaction), or soluble reaction products are formed. Reactions involving nomnetaUic solids occur primarily in batteries, where various oxides (MnOj, PbOj, NiOOH, Ag20, and others) and insoluble salts (PbS04, AgCl, and others) are widely used as electrode materials. These compounds are converted in an electrochemical reaction to the metal or to compounds of the metal in a different oxidation state. 

Visual inspechon frequently cannot differenhate between an amorphous or crystalline material, e.g. at Pfizer medicinal chemists were required to submit only crystalline and not amorphous compounds to an automated thermodynamic solubility assay. In prachce half the white powders that they produced for the assay and that they thought were crystalline were actually amorphous. Prior to 2000 the vast majority of these medicinal chemistry labs had no melting point equipment and it was only in 2000 that the pharmaceuhcal sciences department started a workshop to teach medicinal chemists the importance of solid state properhes, how to crystallize compounds and the importance of salt forms. 

When determining the solubility and dissolution rate of amorphous or partially crystalline solids, the metastability of these phases with respect to the highly crystalline solid must be considered. While the low diffusivity of the molecules in the solid state can kinetically stabilize these metastable forms, contact with the solution, for example during measurements of solubility and dissolution rate, or with the vapor, if the solid has an appreciable vapor pressure, may provide a mechanism for mass transfer and crystallization. Less crystalline material dissolves or sublimes whereas more crystalline material crystallizes out. The equilibrium solubility measured will therefore approach that of the highly crystalline solid. The initial dissolution rate of the metastable form tends to reflect its higher... 

Water is involved in most of the photodecomposition reactions. Hence, nonaqueous electrolytes such as methanol, ethanol, N,N-d i methyl forma mide, acetonitrile, propylene carbonate, ethylene glycol, tetrahydrofuran, nitromethane, benzonitrile, and molten salts such as A1C13-butyl pyridium chloride are chosen. The efficiency of early cells prepared with nonaqueous solvents such as methanol and acetonitrile were low because of the high resistivity of the electrolyte, limited solubility of the redox species, and poor bulk and surface properties of the semiconductor. Recently, reasonably efficient and fairly stable cells have been prepared with nonaqueous electrolytes with a proper design of the electrolyte redox couple and by careful control of the material and surface properties [7], Results with single-crystal semiconductor electrodes can be obtained from table 2 in Ref. 15. Unfortunately, the efficiencies and stabilities achieved cannot justify the use of singlecrystal materials. Table 2 in Ref. 15 summarizes the results of liquid junction solar cells prepared with polycrystalline and thin-film semiconductors [15]. As can be seen the efficiencies are fair. Thin films provide several advantages over bulk materials. Despite these possibilities, the actual efficiencies of solid-state polycrystalline thin-film PV solar cells exceed those obtained with electrochemical PV cells [22,23]. 

As shown in Fig. 2 [37], and also in the work of Barraclough and Hall [34], moisture uptake onto sodium chloride as a function of relative humidity is reversible as long as RH0 is not attained. This is evidence that actual dissolution of water-soluble crystalline substances does not occur below RH0. This is consistent with thermodynamic rationale that dissolution below RHo would require a supersaturated solution (i.e., an increased number of species in solution would be necessary to induce dissolution at a relative humidity below that of the saturated solution, RH0). In this regard, one should only need to consider the solid state properties of a purely crystalline material below RH0. As will be described, other considerations are warranted for a substance that contains amorphous material. 

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