Erbium hexaboride

{{Chembox

|ImageFile=CaHexaboride.jpg

|Section1={{Chembox Identifiers

| CASNo = 12046-33-2

| ChemSpiderID = 64886481

| EINECS = 234-966-1

| StdInChI=1S/6B.Er

| StdInChIKey = WXPXCBAWWAGCCB-UHFFFAOYSA-N

| SMILES = [Er].[B].[B].[B].[B].[B].[B]

}}

|Section2={{Chembox Properties

| Er = 1 | B=6

}}

|Section8={{Chembox Related

| OtherCompounds = Erbium tetraboride

}}

}}

Erbium hexaboride (ErB₆) is a rare-earth hexaboride compound containing the element erbium, which has a calcium hexaboride crystal structure.

It is one of the fundamental compounds formed in reactions between erbium and boron. The compound is isostructural with all other reported rare-earth hexaboride compounds including lanthanum hexaboride, samarium hexaboride, and cerium hexaboride.{{cite book|last=Samsonov|first=Grigorii|title=High-Temperature Compounds of Rare Earth Metals with Nonmetals|year=1965|publisher=Consultants Bureau|location=New York}} Due to the isostructural nature of the rare-earth hexaborides and the strong interaction of boron octahedra within the crystal, these compounds show a high degree of lattice matching which suggests the possibility of doping by substituting one rare earth metal within the crystal with another.{{cite journal|last=Schmidt|first=P. H.|author2=Joy, D. C.|title=Low Work Function Electron Emitter Hexaborides|journal=Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology|year=1978|volume=15|issue=6|pages=1809–1810|bibcode=1978JVST...15.1809S|doi=10.1116/1.569847|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|last=Tarascon|first=J. M.|author2=Y. Isikawa |author3=B. Chevalier |author4=J. Etoumeau |author5=P. Hagenmuller |author6=M. Kasaya |title=Valence Transition of Samarium in Hexaboride Solid Solutions Sm_1−xM_xB₆ (M = Yb²⁺, Sr²⁺, La³⁺, Y³⁺, Th⁴⁺)|journal= Journal de Physique|year=1980|volume=41|issue=10|pages=1135–1140|doi=10.1051/jphys:0198000410100113500|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/jpa-00208939/document}} Until recently, it had been hypothesized that erbium hexaboride was unstable due to the small size of the Er³⁺ cation within the crystal structure when compared to the ionic radii of other rare-earth elements that form known rare-earth hexaboride compounds.{{cite journal|last=Mar|first=R. W.|title=Conditions for Formation of ErB₆|journal= Journal of the American Ceramic Society|year=1973|volume=56|pages=275–278|doi=10.1111/j.1151-2916.1973.tb12487.x|issue=5}} It has now been demonstrated, however, that new nanoscale synthetic methods are capable of producing high-purity, stable erbium hexaboride nanowires. These wires, produced using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), have a reported lattice constant of 4.1 Å.{{cite journal|last=Gernhart|first=Zane |author2=R. M. Jacobberger |author3=L. Wang |author4=J. R. Brewer |author5=M. A. Dar |author6=D. R. Diercks |author7=W. N. Mei |author8=C. L. Cheung|title=Existence of Erbium Hexaboride Nanowires|journal= Journal of the American Ceramic Society|date=December 2012|volume=95|issue=12|pages=3992–3996|doi=10.1111/j.1551-2916.2012.05427.x}}