Vibrational spectra of rhombohedral TeO3 compared to those of ReO3-like proto-phase and [alpha]-TeO2 (paratellurite): lattice dynamic and crystal chemistry aspects

Vibrational spectra of rhombohedral TeO3 (r-TeO3) are analyzed along with those of ReO3-like proto-phase (c-TeO3) and [alpha]-TeO2 (paratellurite), emphasizing their lattice dynamic and crystal chemistry aspects. It is shown that (1) r-TeO3 can be regarded as resulting from the condensation of a particular R-point soft phonon of c-TeO3; (2) the Raman spectra of r-TeO3 and [alpha]-TeO2 are indicative of the two fundamentally different (from the crystal chemistry point of view) types of crystalline oxides, namely, framework-type and island-type, respectively. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]