Iron monosilicide

Iron monosilicide (FeSi) is an intermetallic compound, a silicide of iron that occurs in nature as the rare mineral naquite. It is a narrow-bandgap semiconductor with a room-temperature electrical resistivity of ca. 10,000 Ohm·cm[3] and unusual magnetic properties at low temperatures. FeSi has a cubic crystal lattice with no inversion center; therefore its magnetic structure is helical, with right-hand and left-handed chiralities.[4]

Iron monosilicide

Structures of left-handed and right-handed FeSi crystals. The top presentation shows the eight atoms of the unit cell. The middle shows polyhedra surrounding the iron atoms. The bottom show the presence of 3-fold screw axes.
Names
IUPAC name Iron silicide
Other names Naquite, fersilicite
Identifiers
CAS Number	12022-95-6 Y
3D model (JSmol)	Interactive image
ChemSpider	13077547 Y
ECHA InfoCard	100.031.506
EC Number	234-670-2
PubChem CID	13956050
UNII	A3I5H1663X
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)	DTXSID40892426
InChI InChI=1S/Fe.Si Key: XWHPIFXRKKHEKR-UHFFFAOYSA-N
SMILES [Si].[Fe]
Properties
Chemical formula	FeSi
Molar mass	83.931 g/mol
Appearance	gray cubic crystals[1]
Density	6.1 g/cm3[1]
Melting point	1,410 °C (2,570 °F; 1,680 K)[1]
Band gap	0.05 eV (ind.) 0.14 eV (dir.)[2]
Magnetic susceptibility (χ)	8.5×10−6 emu/g[3]
Structure
Crystal structure	Cubic[4]
Space group	P213 (No. 198), cP8
Lattice constant	a = 0.44827(1) nm
Formula units (Z)	4
Hazards
Flash point	Non-flammable
Related compounds
Other anions	Iron germanide
Other cations	Cobalt silicide Manganese silicide
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). N (what is YN ?) Infobox references

The structure is the prototype of the "iron monosilicide structure type", of space group P2₁3 (no. 198). It is similar to the structure of sodium chloride, with four iron atoms and four silicon atoms in each unit cell. Whereas in sodium chloride the eight atoms are at the corners of a cube and each ion is surrounded by six counter-ions, in iron monosilicide the atoms are all displaced parallel to body diagonals (along 3-fold axes) from the positions of sodium and chloride. The crystal loses all indirect (chirality reversing) symmetry elements, all 4-fold and 2-fold rotation axes, and many of the 3-fold axes and translations, but retains some of the 2-fold screw axes and 3-fold axes of the sodium chloride crystal structure. As an atom is moved from (0,0,0) to (x,x,x), the other three atoms of the same kind move as well, creating a chiral arrangement except when x is a multiple of 1/4. The atoms of the other kind are displaced as well, with one of the four at (y,y,y). If ${\displaystyle x=-y=\pm ({\sqrt {5}}-1)/8\approx 0.1545}$ then each ion will be equidistant from seven atoms of the other kind, at a distance of ${\displaystyle ({\sqrt {5}}-1){\sqrt {3}}/4\approx 0.53523,}$ rather than six at a distance of 1/2 and one at a distance of ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {3}}/2}$ in the sodium chloride structure.[5]

In the case of iron monosilicide, x=0.13652 and y=0.8424 (or −0.1576), or x=−0.13652 and y=0.1576, so the seven silicon atoms around an iron atom are not all the same distance from the iron atom. Each silicon atom sits in a similar cage of iron atoms. The cages only have 3-fold rotational symmetry, with three slightly different interatomic distances between the central atom and the seven surrounding atoms (to 3 atoms, 3 atoms, and 1 atom respectively). There are right-handed and left-handed 3-fold screw axes without there being a symmetry element taking one to the other. (Three-fold screw axes also exist in sodium chloride but are related by a mirror.) This means that iron monosilicide crystals exist in two different enantiomorphs, depending on the signs of x and y.[6]

In 1948 Linus Pauling investigated the nature of the bonds in iron monosilicide.[7]