Gallium(I) oxide

Template:Chembox Gallium(I) oxide, digallium monoxide or gallium suboxide is an inorganic compound with the formula Ga₂O.

Production

Gallium(I) oxide can be produced by reacting gallium(III) oxide with heated gallium in vacuum:

$\mathrm{G}{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{2}}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{3}}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{4}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{⟶}\mathrm{3}\mathrm{G}{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{O}$

It can also be obtained by reacting gallium with carbon dioxide in vacuum at 850 °C.

$\mathrm{2}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{⟶}\mathrm{G}{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{O}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{O}$

Gallium(I) oxide is a by-product in the production of gallium arsenide wafers:

$\mathrm{4}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{⟶}\mathrm{2}\mathrm{G}{\mathrm{a}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{O}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{i}$

Properties

Gallium(I) oxide is a brown-black diamagnetic solid which is resistant to further oxidation in dry air. It starts decomposing upon heating at temperatures above 500 °C, and the decomposition rate depends on the atmosphere (vacuum, inert gas, air).