Americium(III) oxide or americium sesquioxide is an

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 ...

of the element

americium Americium is a synthetic element, synthetic chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Am and atomic number 95. It is radioactive and a transuranic member of the actinide series in the periodic table, located under the lanthanide element e ...

. It has the empirical formula Am₂O₃. Since all

isotopes of americium Americium (95Am) is an artificial element, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. Like all artificial elements, it has no known stable isotopes. The first isotope to be synthesized was 241Am in 1944. The artificial element decays by e ...

are only artificially produced, americium (III) oxide has no natural occurrence. The colour depends on the crystal structure, of which there are more than one. It is soluble in acids.

Formation

Americium(III) oxide can be made by heating americium dioxide in hydrogen at 600°C. :

Forms

The hexagonal form is coloured tan, and the cubic form is coloured red-brown the same as

persimmon The persimmon () is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Chinese and Japanese kaki persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki''. In 2022, China produced 77% of the world's p ...

. The cubic form converts to the hexagonal form on heating to 800°C. The cubic form is non-stoichimetric with variable oxygen composition. It darkens with increasing oxygen.

References

{{Oxides Americium compounds Sesquioxides