THE FORMATION AND STABILITY OF A BODY-CENTERED-CUBIC g-Bi₂O₃ SOLID SOLUTION IN THE Bi₂O₃-ZnO SYSTEM 

Špela Kunej, Jyoti P. Guha, and Danilo Suvorov
Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia  

Abstract

Minor additions of ZnO to Bi₂O₃ result in the transformation of the face-centered-cubic crystal structure of the high-temperature polymorph of Bi₂O₃ to a body-centered-cubic solid solution (γ-Bi₂O₃). In the binary system Bi₂O₃-ZnO, the b.c.c.-solid solution exists in the Bi₂O₃-rich part of this system and extends to a composition of 1.5 mol% ZnO. Beyond the solid-solubility limit, the solid solution coexists with a binary compound Bi₃₈ZnO₅₈. On cooling below 700 °C, the γ-Bi₂O₃ solid solution transforms to the low-temperature monoclinic polymorph α-Bi₂O₃ and Bi₃₈ZnO₅₈.

Key words: γ-Bi₂O₃, solid solution, Bi₂O₃-ZnO system