Cadmium phosphide ( Cd₃ P₂) is an

inorganic In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemis ...

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 ele ...

. It is a grey or white bluish solid semiconductor material with a bandgap of 0.5 eV. It has applications as a pesticide, material for laser diodes and for high-power-high-frequency electronics.

Synthesis and reactions

Cadmium phosphide can be prepared by the reaction of

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...

with

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ea ...

: :6 Cd + P₄ → 2 Cd₃P₂

Structure

Cd₃P₂ has a room-temperature

tetragonal In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a squar ...

form. The crystalline structure of cadmium phosphide is very similar to that of zinc phosphide (Zn₃P₂), cadmium arsenide (Cd₃As₂) and zinc arsenide (Zn₃As₂). These compounds of the Zn-Cd-P-As quaternary system exhibit full continuous solid-solution.

Applications

Safety

Like other metal phosphides, it is acutely toxic when swallowed due to the formation of

phosphine Phosphine ( IUPAC name: phosphane) is a colorless, flammable, highly toxic compound with the chemical formula , classed as a pnictogen hydride. Pure phosphine is odorless, but technical grade samples have a highly unpleasant odor like rotti ...

gas when it reacts with

gastric acid Gastric acid, gastric juice, or stomach acid is a digestive fluid formed within the stomach lining. With a pH between 1 and 3, gastric acid plays a key role in digestion of proteins by activating digestive enzymes, which together break down the ...

. It is also carcinogen and dangerous for the skin, eyes and other organs in a large part due to

cadmium poisoning Cadmium is a naturally occurring toxic metal with common exposure in industrial workplaces, plant soils, and from smoking. Due to its low permissible exposure in humans, overexposure may occur even in situations where trace quantities of cadmium ...

References

{{Phosphorus compounds Phosphides phosphide II-V semiconductors II-V compounds