XeF2
Xenon difluoride · Xenon(II) fluoride
Xenon difluoride is a stable, reactive noble gas compound widely utilized as a potent fluorinating agent in chemical synthesis and semiconductor etching.
About Xenon difluoride
Xenon difluoride is a notable noble gas compound that defies the traditional chemical inertness associated with its constituent element. It exists as a thermodynamically stable solid under ambient conditions and is recognized for its semiconducting electronic behavior, which distinguishes it from more conventional insulating fluoride salts.
Due to its high reactivity as a fluorinating agent, this compound is highly valued in specialized industrial and laboratory settings. It serves as a critical reagent for selective chemical etching and the synthesis of complex fluorinated organic and inorganic materials, benefiting from its ability to provide reactive fluorine species under mild conditions.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Xenon difluoride, aggregated across 4 databases.
Band GapEnergy needed to move an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. Lower or zero values tend to behave more metallic; larger gaps are more insulating or semiconducting.
Energy Above HullThermodynamic distance from the most stable set of competing phases. 0 eV/atom is on the convex hull; small positive values may still be experimentally accessible.
StabilityA plain-language summary of the best reported energy-above-hull result. It reflects whether the lowest-energy structure is on, near, or far from the stability hull.
StructuresCount of reported calculated crystal structures for this formula, including alternate polymorphs, source databases, and observed space groups.
Reported Structures
Lowest-energy structures reported for XeF2, ranked by energy above hull.
| Space GroupSymmetry classification of the crystal arrangement. The number is the international space-group index. | Crystal SystemBroad lattice family, such as cubic, tetragonal, monoclinic, or triclinic, derived from unit-cell symmetry. | Band Gap (eV)Electronic gap calculated for this specific reported structure, measured in electronvolts. | E above hull (eV/atom)Thermodynamic distance from the convex hull for this structure, normalized per atom. Lower is generally more stable. | E/atom (eV)Computed total energy normalized per atom. Use energy above hull, not this value alone, when comparing stability. | Density (g/cm³)Mass per relaxed crystal volume, reported in grams per cubic centimeter. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | tetragonal | 2.69 | 0.0000 | -2.070 | 4.40 |
| I4/mmm (No. 139) | — | — | — | — | — |
| P1 (No. 1) | Triclinic | — | — | — | 3.94 |
| P21 (No. 4) | Monoclinic | — | — | — | 4.11 |
| P1 (No. 1) | Triclinic | — | — | — | 2.83 |
| P1 (No. 1) | Triclinic | — | — | — | 4.27 |
| P21/c (No. 14) | monoclinic | — | — | — | 1.68 |
| P1 (No. 1) | Triclinic | — | — | — | 2.63 |
| P1 (No. 1) | Triclinic | — | — | — | 3.58 |
Applications
Where Xenon difluoride is used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Xenon difluoride, answered from cross-validated data.
What is XeF2?
Xenon difluoride is a stable, reactive noble gas compound widely utilized as a potent fluorinating agent in chemical synthesis and semiconductor etching.
What is XeF2 used for?
What is the band gap of XeF2?
Is XeF2 a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is XeF2 thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of XeF2?
What is the density of XeF2?
How many polymorphs of XeF2 are known?
What elements does XeF2 contain?
Where does the data for XeF2 come from?
How It Compares
As a primary noble gas fluoride, Xenon difluoride serves as the foundational reference point for the reactivity and structural chemistry of xenon-based compounds, representing a stable and well-characterized benchmark in the study of hypervalent bonding.
Data sources & attribution
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (NIST). Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020).
- mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.
- cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database. Cite: Grazulis et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 40, D420 (2012).
Analyze XeF2 in the Lattice Graph platform
Polymorph comparison, confidence scoring, supply-chain risk, and patent monitoring — across 53 integrated data sources.
Explore the Platform →