Crystal structure and some thermodynamic characteristics of cesium silicate Cs6Si10O23

Crystals of cesium silicate Cs6Si10O23 were prepared upon the crystallization of glass Cs2O · 4SiO2. The crystal structure of Cs6Si10O23 was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (space group P\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$\bar 6$$ \end{document} 2m, a = 9.578(5) Å, c = 4.155(5) Å, Z = 0.5, 269 F(hkl), R = 0.0424). The three-dimensional tetrahedral silicate framework in Cs6Si10O23 is similar to that in Rb6Si10O23 (space group P\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$\bar 6$$ \end{document} 2m, a = 9.475(5) Å, c = 8.200(5) Å) in which layers formed by 12-membered rings of silicon-oxygen tetrahedra may be distinguished. However, while in the rubidium silicate structure the vertices of the tetrahedra neighboring in a layer point to opposite directions, in cesium silicate these tetrahedra are disordered as regards the arrangement of vertices either upward or downward relative to the layer plane. The random disorder results in a smaller unit cell parameter c in Cs6Si10O23 compared to Rb6Si10O23. The compound melts congruently; the melting temperature and the enthalpy of melting of the crystal are 1208 ± 1 K and 156.2 ± 15 kJ/mol, respectively.