In materials chemistry, a binary phase or binary compound is a

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

containing two different elements. Some binary phase compounds are molecular, e.g.

carbon tetrachloride Carbon tetrachloride, also known by many other names (such as carbon tet for short and tetrachloromethane, also IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry, recognised by the IUPAC), is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CCl4. It is a n ...

(CCl₄). More typically binary phase refers to extended solids. Famous examples

zinc sulfide Zinc sulfide (or zinc sulphide) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula of ZnS. This is the main form of zinc found in nature, where it mainly occurs as the mineral sphalerite. Although this mineral is usually black because of various i ...

, which contains zinc and sulfur, and tungsten carbide, which contains tungsten and carbon. Phases with higher degrees of complexity feature more elements, e.g. three elements in ternary phases, four elements in quaternary phases. These phases exhibit a higher degree of complexity due to the interaction of these elements at different conditions.

References

Chemical compounds {{chem-compound-stub