chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

, thiosilicate refers to materials containing

anion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...

s of the formula . Derivatives where some sulfide is replaced by

oxide An oxide () is a chemical compound containing at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion (anion bearing a net charge of −2) of oxygen, an O2− ion with oxygen in the oxidation st ...

are also called thiosilicates, examples being materials derived from the oxohexathiodisilicate . Silicon is

tetrahedral In geometry, a tetrahedron (: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular Face (geometry), faces, six straight Edge (geometry), edges, and four vertex (geometry), vertices. The tet ...

in all thiosilicates and sulfur is bridging or terminal. Formally such materials are derived from

silicon disulfide Silicon disulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula Si S2. Like silicon dioxide, this material is polymeric, but it adopts a 1-dimensional structure quite different from the usual forms of SiO2. Synthesis, structure, and properties Th ...

in analogy to the relationship between

silicon dioxide Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundan ...

and

silicate A silicate is any member of a family of polyatomic anions consisting of silicon and oxygen, usually with the general formula , where . The family includes orthosilicate (), metasilicate (), and pyrosilicate (, ). The name is also used ...

s. Thiosilicates are typically encountered as colorless solids. They are characteristically sensitive to

hydrolysis Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution reaction, substitution, elimination reaction, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water ...

. They are from the class of chalcogenidotetrelates.

Materials science

The LISICON (LIthium Super Ionic CONductor) include thiosilicates, which are

fast ion conductor In materials science, fast ion conductors are solid conductors with highly mobile ions. These materials are important in the area of solid state ionics, and are also known as solid electrolytes and superionic conductors. These materials are usefu ...

s. Thiosilicates and related thiogermanates are also of interest for

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

optics, since they only absorb low frequency IR modes.{{cite journal, title=BaGa₂MQ₆ (M = Si, Ge; Q = S, Se): A New Series of Promising IR Nonlinear Optical Materials, author1=Yin, Wenlong , author2=Feng, Kai , author3=He, Ran , author4=Mei, Dajiang , author5=Lin, Zheshuai , author6=Yao, Jiyong , author7=Wu, Yicheng , journal=Dalton Transactions, year=2012, volume=41, issue=18 , pages=5653–5661, doi=10.1039/c2dt12493a, pmid=22434416

References

Inorganic silicon compounds Sulfides Inorganic polymers Sulfur ions