Antimonides (sometimes called stibnides or stibinides) are compounds of

antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

with more

electropositive Electronegativity, symbolized as , is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the d ...

elements. The antimonide

ion 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 convent ...

is but the term refers also to any anionic derivative of antimony. Antimonides are often prepared by heating the elements. Alternatively, sodium

electride An electride is an ionic compound in which an electron serves the role of the anion. Solutions Solutions of alkali metals in ammonia are electride salts. In the case of sodium, these blue solutions consist of a(NH3)6sup>+ and solvated electron ...

in ammonia dissolves antimony to give an antimonide upon evaporation. The reduction of antimony leads to alkali metal antimonides of various types, depending on

stoichiometry Stoichiometry () is the relationships between the masses of reactants and Product (chemistry), products before, during, and following chemical reactions. Stoichiometry is based on the law of conservation of mass; the total mass of reactants must ...

. Known antimonides include isolated ions (in and ). Other motifs include dumbbells in , discrete antimony chains, for example, in , infinite spirals (in NaSb, RbSb), planar four-membered rings , cages in , and net shaped anions in . Some antimonides are

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

s, e.g. those of the

boron group The boron group are the chemical elements in periodic table group, group 13 of the periodic table, consisting of boron (B), aluminium (Al), gallium (Ga), indium (In), thallium (Tl) and nihonium (Nh). This group lies in the p-block of the perio ...

such as

indium antimonide Indium antimonide (InSb) is a crystalline compound made from the elements indium (In) and antimony (Sb). It is a narrow- gap semiconductor material from the III- V group used in infrared detectors, including thermal imaging cameras, FLIR sy ...

. Being reducing, many antimonides are decomposed by oxygen.

References

Anions Antimonides {{inorganic-compound-stub

See also

References