Iron(III) sulfide, also known as ferric sulfide or sesquisulfide (), is one of the several binary
iron sulfide
Iron sulfide or Iron sulphide can refer to range of chemical compounds composed of iron and sulfur.
Minerals
By increasing order of stability:
* Iron(II) sulfide, FeS
* Greigite, Fe3S4 (cubic)
* Pyrrhotite, Fe1−xS (where x = 0 to 0.2) (mono ...
s. It is a solid, black powder that degrades at ambient temperature.
Reactions
() decays at a temperature over 20 °C into
iron(II) sulfide
Iron(II) sulfide or ferrous sulfide (Br.E. sulphide) is one of a family chemical compounds and minerals with the approximate formula . Iron sulfides are often iron-deficient non-stoichiometric. All are black, water-insoluble solids.
Preparatio ...
(FeS) and
elemental sulfur:
: Fe
2S
3 → 2 FeS + S
With hydrochloric acid it decays according to the following reaction equation:
[H. Roempp, ''Chemie'' (1997), S. 1099; ]
: Fe
2S
3 + 4 HCl → 2 FeCl
2 + 2 H
2S + S
Greigite
Greigite, with the chemical formula , is a
mixed valence compound containing both Fe(III) and Fe(II). It is the sulfur equivalent of the iron oxide
magnetite
Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe2+Fe3+2O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. With ...
(Fe
3O
4). As established by
X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...
, the S anions form a cubic close-packed lattice, and the Fe cations occupy both tetrahedral and octahedral sites.>
[Vaughan, D. J.; Craig, J. R. “Mineral Chemistry of Metal Sulfides" Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1978. .]
References
{{Iron compounds
Iron(III) compounds
Sulfides
Synthetic materials