Europium(II) fluoride

Template:Chembox Europium(II) fluoride is an inorganic compound with a chemical formula EuF₂. It was first synthesized in 1937.

Production

Europium(II) fluoride can be produced by reducing europium(III) fluoride with metallic europium or hydrogen gas.

$\mathrm{2}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{u}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{3}}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{u}\mathrm{⟶}\mathrm{3}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{u}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{2}}$

$\mathrm{2}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{u}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{3}}\mathrm{+}{\mathrm{H}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{⟶}\mathrm{2}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{u}{\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{2}}\mathrm{+}\mathrm{2}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{F}$

Properties

Europium(II) fluoride is a bright yellowish solid with a fluorite structure.

EuF₂ can be used to dope a trivalent rare-earth fluoride, such as LaF₃, to create a vacancy-filled structure with increased conductivity over a pure crystal. Such a crystal can be used as a fluoride-specific semipermeable membrane in a fluoride selective electrode to detect trace quantities of fluoride.