Structural and thermal analysis of the linear polygermoxane GeSP
摘要
Structural analysis of Ge straight-chain linear polymer [OGe(OH)CH2CH2COOH]n by single-crystal X-ray diffraction was revisited and reported. The thermal behavior of the linear polygermoxane during heating/cooling in synthetic air or in argon was investigated using TGA–DSC-QMS complemented by powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR measurements, and DFT calculations. Approximately seven thermal stages, some of them composed of complex overlapping transformations, were identified between 20 and 1200 °C in both gases. Below 230 °C, on heating, an endothermic effect is observed, and it is accompanied by a dehydroxylation process. On cooling from 230 °C, an exothermal peak is observed at ~ 180 °C, and it was assigned to lattice rearrangement. Heating up to 600 °C leads to multistep transformations from crystalline to amorphous state, and processes are developing with mass loss. In argon, above 840 °C, only metallic Ge is detected, and this phase is stable until melting. When heating in air, oxidation of Ge occurs, with inherent mass increase, and, finally, GeO2 melts at ~ 1120 °C.