Zirconium trifluoride is an inorganic chemical compound with the chemical formula . This is a salt of zirconium and hydrofluoric acid, forms black crystals.
Synthesis Zirconium difluoride can be prepared by the action of atomic hydrogen on thin layers of zirconium tetrafluoride, at a temperature of approximately 350°.
Zirconium (III) fluoride can be obtained by reacting hydrogenated zirconium with a mixture of hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen at 750 °C.Georg Brauer (Hrsg.), unter Mitarbeit von Marianne Baudler u. a.: Handbuch der Präparativen Anorganischen Chemie. 3., umgearbeitete Auflage. Band I, Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-432-02328-6, S. 259.
It is also possible to prepare it by reducing with hydrogen at 650 °C.Paul Ehrlich, Fritz Plöger, Ernst Koch, Gustav Kaupa: Über Zirkonium(III)-fluorid. Versuche zur Darstellung von Thorium(III)-fluorid. In: Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie. 333, 1964, S. 209–215, .
Physical properties forms black crystals of the cubic system, in the space group Pm3m.
It is slightly soluble in hot water, slightly soluble in hot acids. It is insoluble in caustic soda and ammonia solution. Its crystal structure corresponds to that of rhenium(VI) oxide.
Chemical properties disproportionates to the tetrafluoride when heated to 1300 °C:
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