Verbeekite Explained

Verbeekite is a rare mineral consisting of palladium diselenide PdSe₂. This transition metal dichalcogenide has an unusual monoclinic structure, with pairs of selenium atoms existing as dimers forming layers between palladium atom sheets. Unit cell dimensions are:,,,, . Palladium diselenide has five polymorphs. Verbeekite can be synthesised at 11.5 GPa pressure and 1300 °C.^[1]

Monolayer PdSe₂ has been predicted as a semiconductor and synthesized as an electronic material.^{[2] [3]}

The mineral was discovered in 2002 from the Musonoi Cu-Co-Mn-U mine (Kolwezi), in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Verbeekite was named after geologist Théodore Verbeek who studied minerals at that mine between 1955 and 1967.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Selb. Elisabeth. Tribus. Martina. Heymann. Gunter. Verbeekite, the long-unknown crystal structure of monoclinic PdSe₂. Inorganic Chemistry. 26 April 2017. 56. 10. 5885–5891. 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b00544. 28445041.
2. Sun . Jifeng . Electronic, transport and optical properties of bulk and monolayer PdSe₂ . Applied Physics Letters . 2015 . 107 . 15 . 153902 . 10.1063/1.4933302 . 2015ApPhL.107o3902S . 1265984 .
3. Oyedele . Akinola . PdSe₂: Pentagonal two-dimensional layers with high air stability for electronics . Journal of the American Chemical Society . 2017 . 139 . 40 . 14090–14097 . 10.1021/jacs.7b04865 . 28873294 . 1394440 .
4. https://www.mindat.org/min-25640.html Mindat data