STRUCTURAL STUDY OF MOLTEN SILVER-HALIDES BY NEUTRON-DIFFRACTION

The Structure factors of molten AgCl, AgBr and AgI have been obtained by neutron scattering measurements at two different temperatures in order to investigate the local structure and its temperature dependence. The partial structural parameters such as a partial coordination number and an inter ionic distance have been determined by curve fitting analysis. Molten silver halides are found to have tetrahedral coordination of the local order near the melting points. The local order for molten AgCl and AgBr is broken with increasing temperature, while that for molten AgI is preserved even at high temperature. This suggests that the bonding in molten AgI has more covalent character than that in molten AgCl and AgBr.