Scandium oxide Property

Melting point:

1000 °C

Density 

8.35 g/mL at 25 °C(lit.)

refractive index 

1.964

storage temp. 

under inert gas (nitrogen or Argon) at 2-8°C

solubility 

soluble in concentrated acid solutions

form 

powder

color 

White

Specific Gravity

3.864

Water Solubility 

insoluble

Crystal Structure

Sc2O3 type

crystal system

Cube

Merck 

14,8392

Space group

Ia3

Lattice constant

a/nm	b/nm	c/nm	α/o	β/o	γ/o	V/nm3
0.98459	0.98459	0.98459	90	90	90	0.9545

InChI

InChI=1S/3O.2Sc

InChIKey

HYXGAEYDKFCVMU-UHFFFAOYSA-N

SMILES

O([Sc]=O)[Sc]=O

CAS DataBase Reference

12060-08-1(CAS DataBase Reference)

EPA Substance Registry System

Scandium oxide (Sc2O3) (12060-08-1)

Safety

Safety Statements 

24/25

WGK Germany 

3

TSCA 

Yes

HS Code 

28469099

Hazard and Precautionary Statements (GHS)

Symbol(GHS)

Signal word

Danger

Hazard statements

H225Highly Flammable liquid and vapour

H315Causes skin irritation

H319Causes serious eye irritation

Precautionary statements

P210Keep away from heat/sparks/open flames/hot surfaces. — No smoking.

P233Keep container tightly closed.

P240Ground/bond container and receiving equipment.

P241Use explosion-proof electrical/ventilating/lighting/…/equipment.

P242Use only non-sparking tools.

P243Take precautionary measures against static discharge.

P264Wash hands thoroughly after handling.

P264Wash skin thouroughly after handling.

P280Wear protective gloves/protective clothing/eye protection/face protection.

P303+P361+P353IF ON SKIN (or hair): Remove/Take off Immediately all contaminated clothing. Rinse SKIN with water/shower.

P305+P351+P338IF IN EYES: Rinse cautiously with water for several minutes. Remove contact lenses, if present and easy to do. Continuerinsing.

P332+P313IF SKIN irritation occurs: Get medical advice/attention.

P337+P313IF eye irritation persists: Get medical advice/attention.

P370+P378In case of fire: Use … for extinction.

P403+P235Store in a well-ventilated place. Keep cool.

P501Dispose of contents/container to..…

Scandium oxide Chemical Properties,Usage,Production

Uses

Scandium Oxide is applied in optical coating, catalyst, electronic ceramics and laser industry. It is also used annually in making high-intensity discharge lamps. A high melting white solid used in high-temperature systems (for its resistance to heat and thermal shock), electronic ceramics, and glass composition. Suitable for vacuum deposition applications.

Structure

Sc₂O₃ (Scandium oxide) is a Corundum-like structure and crystallizes in the cubic Ia̅3 space group. There are two inequivalent Sc³⁺ sites. In the first Sc³⁺ site, Sc³⁺ is bonded to six equivalent O²⁻ atoms to form a mixture of corner and edge-sharing ScO₆ octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles are 54°. All Sc-O bond lengths are 2.12 Å. In the second Sc³⁺ site, Sc³⁺ is bonded to six equivalent O²⁻ atoms to form a mixture of distorted corner and edge-sharing ScO₆ octahedra. The corner-sharing octahedral tilt angles range from 53-54°. There is a spread of Sc-O bond distances ranging from 2.09-2.17 Å. O²⁻ is bonded to four Sc³⁺ atoms to form a mixture of distorted corner and edge-sharing OSc₄ trigonal pyramids.

Chemical Properties

fine white powder(s) or sintered pieces of 3–12mm; used as an evaporation material of 99.99% purity to produce fairly hard coating which is very stable, and is useful for antireflection coating on semiconductors with high index [MER06] [CER91]
High-purity scandium oxide (i.e., 99.0 to 99.99 wt.% Sc) is an initial raw material used to produce a metallic scandium.
The growth of scandium oxide produces a smooth surface as evident by the AFM RMS roughness of 0.5 to 0.8 nm.The growth rate of the scandium oxide was 0.67nm/min for Tsc=1130℃ and 1.25nm/min for Tsc=1170℃.

Uses

Scandium oxide (Sc2O3): 2Sc³⁺ + 3O^2- → Sc2O3. Scandium oxide is used to prepare scandium fluoride (ScF3), which is also used as an electrolyte to produce scandium metal.

Uses

Scandium oxide is resistant to heat and thermal shock, hence finds use in high-temperature systems. Further, it is used in electronic ceramics and glass composition. It is used as a starting material for the preparation of other scandium compounds. In addition to this, it has vacuum deposition applications.

Definition

Scandium oxide has an extremely high melting point and is therefore likely to be an ionic compound, meaning its particles are joined by ionic bonds.

Preparation

Scandium Oxide, SC2O3: It is obtained readily by heating the salts such as scandium carbonate and scandium nitrate.
Sc2(CO3)3-Heat->Sc2O3+3CO2
4Sc(NO3)3-->2Sc2O3+12NO2+3O2
Scandium oxide is a white powder. It is more basic than aluminium oxide but less basic than calcium oxide. It absorbs carbon dioxide from the air.
It has the MnO3 structure.The crystal structure of scandium oxide is Bixbyite , which is an FCC array of scandium atoms with oxygen occupying 44 of the tetrahedral sites.

Solubility in water

The oxide of scandium is not soluble in water but it can be soluble in hot acids but sometimes it reacts also. But the scandium oxide is amphoteric as if the compound can react with acid as well as a base then the compound is said to be amphoteric.