ARSENIC (III) SELENIDE

Chemical Properties

black crystal(s); dark brown solid; preparation: from melted As and Se; uses: vacuum deposition [CER91] [STR93] [MER06]

Uses

Arsenicselenide is used as a chalcogenide glass for infrared optics, as it transmits light with wavelengths between 870 nm and 17.2 μm.

Production Methods

As and Se are encapsuled into a quartz tube in vacuum and the tube is put into a rocking furnace. The capsule is heated at the temperature slightly higher than the melting point and rocked to mix each component completely followed by slow cooling.

Definition

Arsenic tri-selenide takes amorphous or glassy material. Strong absorption bands are observed when As₂O₃ is incorporated into the source materials or As₂O₃ is formed during fabrication by oxidetion. As2O3 takes the cubic system, the monoclinic system, and the glassy state. The strong absorption bands are observed at 1050, 805, and 480 cm^-1 for the cubic crystal system, at 1100, 805 cm^-1 for the monoclinic crystal system and at 805 and 630 cm^-1 for the glassy material. The absorptions in the transmittance spectrum T₂ agree with either of these absorption bands.

Safety Profile

Low toxicity by ingestion. Whenheated to decomposition it emits toxic vapors of As andSe.