Crystal Structure of Dysprosium oxide

Dysprosium oxide (Dy2O3) is a rare earth metal oxide. It is highly insoluble and thermally stable. Dy2O3 reacts with acid to form dysprosium salt. Dysprosium fluoride (DyF3) can also be prepared by fluorinating Dy2O3 with ammonium hydrogen fluoride (NH4HF2) reagent. Dysprosium metal can be prepared by thermal metal reduction of the resulting DyF3. Dy2O3 is widely used in ceramics, glass additives, high-efficiency phosphors, optical and electromagnetic materials. Dy2O3 nanoparticles are not only industrially usable, but also have promising biomedical applications as drug delivery candidates.

The crystal structure of Dysprosium oxide varies with temperature and is monoclinic or hexagonal at temperatures greater than 1870 °C, and cubic at temperatures less than 1870 °C. Dy₂O₃ crystallizes in the cubic Pn̅3m space group. Dy³⁺ is bonded in a 6-coordinate geometry to six equivalent O²⁻ atoms. All Dy-O bond lengths are 1.95 Å. O²⁻ is bonded to four equivalent Dy³⁺ atoms to form a mixture of edge and corner-sharing ODy₄ tetrahedra.

References:

[1] S. WYANTUTI. Optimization of Hydrothermal Synthesis of Dysprosium Oxide Nanoparticles- Attached-Polyethyleneglycol Template Using Response Surface Methodology- Box-Behnken[J]. Nano Hybrids and Composites, 2023. DOI:10.4028/p-6ytPC9.

[2] TRONG HUNG NGUYEN. Study on the fluorination of dysprosium oxide by ammonium bifluoride for the preparation of dysprosium fluoride[J]. Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam, 2021. DOI:10.31276/vjst.63(8).09-13.