Electronic oxide polarizability and optical basicity of simple oxides. I

TLDR

The study calculated average electronic oxide polarizability of single‑component oxides from refractive index and band gap, used these values to estimate optical basicity, and grouped the oxides into three categories based on polarizability. Optical basicity values derived from refractive index and band gap agreed well, and high polarizability (>3 Å) in PbO, Sb₂O₃, and Bi₂O₃ was linked to cation polarizability and lone‑pair effects.

Abstract

The average electronic oxide polarizability α02− of numerous single component oxides has been calculated on the basis of two different properties: linear refractive index n0 and energy gap Eg, which have demonstrated remarkable correlation. The optical basicity Λ of the oxides has been estimated on the basis of average electronic oxide polarizability calculated from the refractive index Λ(n0) and the energy gap Λ(Eg). A good agreement has been observed between the optical basicity data obtained using independent initial quantities. The simple oxides have been separated into three groups according to the values of their oxide polarizability. The α02− values (above 3 Å) obtained for PbO, Sb2O3, and Bi2O3 have been attributed to the high cation polarizability and the presence of a lone pair in the valence shell of the cation.