Ionic radius


Ionic radius, rion, is the radius of a monatomic ion in an ionic crystal structure. Although neither atoms nor ions have sharp boundaries, they are sometimes treated as if they were hard spheres with radii such that the sum of ionic radii of the cation and anion gives the distance between the ions in a crystal lattice. Ionic radii are typically given in units of either picometers or angstroms, with 1 Å = 100 pm. Typical values range from 31 pm to over 200 pm.
The concept can be extended to solvated ions in liquid solutions taking into consideration the solvation shell.

Trends

Ions may be larger or smaller than the neutral atom, depending on the ion's electric charge. When an atom loses an electron to form a cation, the other electrons are more attracted to the nucleus, and the radius of the ion gets smaller. Similarly, when an electron is added to an atom, forming an anion, the added electron increases the size of the electron cloud by interelectronic repulsion.
The ionic radius is not a fixed property of a given ion, but varies with coordination number, spin state and other parameters. Nevertheless, ionic radius values are sufficiently transferable to allow periodic trends to be recognized. As with other types of atomic radius, ionic radii increase on descending a group. Ionic size also increases with increasing coordination number, and an ion in a high-spin state will be larger than the same ion in a low-spin state. In general, ionic radius decreases with increasing positive charge and increases with increasing negative charge.
An "anomalous" ionic radius in a crystal is often a sign of significant covalent character in the bonding. No bond is completely ionic, and some supposedly "ionic" compounds, especially of the transition metals, are particularly covalent in character. This is illustrated by the unit cell parameters for sodium and silver halides in the table. On the basis of the fluorides, one would say that Ag+ is larger than Na+, but on the basis of the chlorides and bromides the opposite appears to be true. This is because the greater covalent character of the bonds in AgCl and AgBr reduces the bond length and hence the apparent ionic radius of Ag+, an effect which is not present in the halides of the more electropositive sodium, nor in silver fluoride in which the fluoride ion is relatively unpolarizable.

Determination

The distance between two ions in an ionic crystal can be determined by X-ray crystallography, which gives the lengths of the sides of the unit cell of a crystal. For example, the length of each edge of the unit cell of sodium chloride is found to be 564.02 pm. Each edge of the unit cell of sodium chloride may be considered to have the atoms arranged as Na+∙∙∙Cl∙∙∙Na+, so the edge is twice the Na-Cl separation. Therefore, the distance between the Na+ and Cl ions is half of 564.02 pm, which is 282.01 pm. However, although X-ray crystallography gives the distance between ions, it doesn't indicate where the boundary is between those ions, so it doesn't directly give ionic radii.
Landé estimated ionic radii by considering crystals in which the anion and cation have a large difference in size, such as LiI. The lithium ions are so much smaller than the iodide ions that the lithium fits into holes within the crystal lattice, allowing the iodide ions to touch. That is, the distance between two neighboring iodides in the crystal is assumed to be twice the radius of the iodide ion, which was deduced to be 214 pm. This value can be used to determine other radii. For example, the inter-ionic distance in RbI is 356 pm, giving 142 pm for the ionic radius of Rb+. In this way values for the radii of 8 ions were determined.
Wasastjerna estimated ionic radii by considering the relative volumes of ions as determined from electrical polarizability as determined by measurements of refractive index. These results were extended by Victor Goldschmidt. Both Wasastjerna and Goldschmidt used a value of 132 pm for the O2− ion.
Pauling used effective nuclear charge to proportion the distance between ions into anionic and a cationic radii. His data gives the O2− ion a radius of 140 pm.
A major review of crystallographic data led to the publication of revised ionic radii by Shannon. Shannon gives different radii for different coordination numbers, and for high and low spin states of the ions. To be consistent with Pauling's radii, Shannon has used a value of rion = 140 pm; data using that value are referred to as "effective" ionic radii. However, Shannon also includes data based on rion = 126 pm; data using that value are referred to as "crystal" ionic radii. Shannon states that "it is felt that crystal radii correspond more closely to the physical size of ions in a solid." The two sets of data are listed in the two tables below.
NumberNameSymbol3–2–1–1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+
1HydrogenH−4
3LithiumLi90
4BerylliumBe59
5BoronB41
6CarbonC30
7NitrogenN132 3027
8OxygenO126-
9FluorineF11922
11SodiumNa116
12MagnesiumMg86
13AluminiumAl67.5
14SiliconSi54
15PhosphorusP5852
16SulfurS1705143-
17ChlorineCl16726 41
19PotassiumK152
20CalciumCa114
21ScandiumSc88.5
22TitaniumTi1008174.5
23VanadiumV93787268
24Chromium lsCr8775.5696358
24Chromium hsCr94
25Manganese lsMn81726747 39.5 60
25Manganese hsMn9778.5
26Iron lsFe756972.539
26Iron hsFe9278.5
27Cobalt lsCo7968.5
27Cobalt hsCo88.57567
28Nickel lsNi837062 ls
28Nickel hsNi74
29CopperCu918768 ls
30ZincZn88
31GalliumGa76
32GermaniumGe8767
33ArsenicAs7260
34SeleniumSe1846456-
35BromineBr18273 45 53
37RubidiumRb166
38StrontiumSr132
39YttriumY104
40ZirconiumZr86
41NiobiumNb868278
42MolybdenumMo83797573
43TechnetiumTc78.57470
44RutheniumRu827670.552 50
45RhodiumRh80.57469
46PalladiumPd73 1009075.5
47SilverAg12910889
48CadmiumCd109
49IndiumIn94
50TinSn83
51AntimonySb9074
52TelluriumTe20711170-
53IodineI20610967
54XenonXe62
55CaesiumCs181
56BariumBa149
57LanthanumLa117.2
58CeriumCe115101
59PraseodymiumPr11399
60NeodymiumNd143 112.3
61PromethiumPm111
62SamariumSm136 109.8
63EuropiumEu131108.7
64GadoliniumGd107.8
65TerbiumTb106.390
66DysprosiumDy121105.2
67HolmiumHo104.1
68ErbiumEr103
69ThuliumTm117102
70YtterbiumYb116100.8
71LutetiumLu100.1
72HafniumHf85
73TantalumTa868278
74TungstenW807674
75RheniumRe77726967
76OsmiumOs7771.568.566.553
77IridiumIr8276.571
78PlatinumPt9476.571
79GoldAu1519971
80MercuryHg133116
81ThalliumTl164102.5
82LeadPb13391.5
83BismuthBi11790
84PoloniumPo10881
85AstatineAt76
87FranciumFr194
88RadiumRa162
89ActiniumAc126
90ThoriumTh108
91ProtactiniumPa11610492
92UraniumU116.51039087
93NeptuniumNp124115101898685
94PlutoniumPu1141008885
95AmericiumAm140 111.599
96CuriumCm11199
97BerkeliumBk11097
98CaliforniumCf10996.1
99EinsteiniumEs92.8

NumberNameSymbol3–2–1–1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+
1HydrogenH−18
3LithiumLi76
4BerylliumBe45
5BoronB27
6CarbonC16
7NitrogenN146 1613
8OxygenO140-
9FluorineF1338
11SodiumNa102
12MagnesiumMg72
13AluminiumAl53.5
14SiliconSi40
15PhosphorusP4438
16SulfurS1843729-
17ChlorineCl18112 27
19PotassiumK138
20CalciumCa100
21ScandiumSc74.5
22TitaniumTi866760.5
23VanadiumV79645854
24Chromium lsCr7361.5554944
24Chromium hsCr80
25Manganese lsMn67585333 25.5 46
25Manganese hsMn8364.5
26Iron lsFe615558.525
26Iron hsFe7864.5
27Cobalt lsCo6554.5
27Cobalt hsCo74.56153 hs
28Nickel lsNi695648 ls
28Nickel hsNi60
29CopperCu777354 ls
30ZincZn74
31GalliumGa62
32GermaniumGe7353
33ArsenicAs5846
34SeleniumSe1985042-
35BromineBr19659 31 39
37RubidiumRb152
38StrontiumSr118
39YttriumY90
40ZirconiumZr72
41NiobiumNb726864
42MolybdenumMo69656159
43TechnetiumTc64.56056
44RutheniumRu686256.538 36
45RhodiumRh66.56055
46PalladiumPd59 867661.5
47SilverAg1159475
48CadmiumCd95
49IndiumIn80
50TinSn69
51AntimonySb7660
52TelluriumTe2219756-
53IodineI2209553
54XenonXe48
55CaesiumCs167
56BariumBa135
57LanthanumLa103.2
58CeriumCe10187
59PraseodymiumPr9985
60NeodymiumNd129 98.3
61PromethiumPm97
62SamariumSm122 95.8
63EuropiumEu11794.7
64GadoliniumGd93.5
65TerbiumTb92.376
66DysprosiumDy10791.2
67HolmiumHo90.1
68ErbiumEr89
69ThuliumTm10388
70YtterbiumYb10286.8
71LutetiumLu86.1
72HafniumHf71
73TantalumTa726864
74TungstenW666260
75RheniumRe63585553
76OsmiumOs6357.554.552.539
77IridiumIr6862.557
78PlatinumPt8062.557
79GoldAu1378557
80MercuryHg119102
81ThalliumTl15088.5
82LeadPb11977.5
83BismuthBi10376
84PoloniumPo9467
85AstatineAt62
87FranciumFr180
88RadiumRa148
89ActiniumAc112
90ThoriumTh94
91ProtactiniumPa1049078
92UraniumU102.5897673
93NeptuniumNp11010187757271
94PlutoniumPu100867471
95AmericiumAm126 97.585
96CuriumCm9785
97BerkeliumBk9683
98CaliforniumCf9582.1
99EinsteiniumEs83.5

Soft-sphere model

For many compounds, the model of ions as hard spheres does not reproduce the distance between ions,, to the accuracy with which it can be measured in crystals. One approach to improving the calculated accuracy is to model ions as "soft spheres" that overlap in the crystal. Because the ions overlap, their separation in the crystal will be less than the sum of their soft-sphere radii.
The relation between soft-sphere ionic radii, and, and, is given by
where is an exponent that varies with the type of crystal structure. In the hard-sphere model, would be 1, giving.
MXObservedSoft-sphere model
LiCl257.0257.2
LiBr275.1274.4
NaCl282.0281.9
NaBr298.7298.2

In the soft-sphere model, has a value between 1 and 2.
For example, for crystals of group 1 halides with the sodium chloride structure, a value of 1.6667 gives good agreement with experiment.
Some soft-sphere ionic radii are in the table.
These radii are larger than the crystal radii given above. Inter-ionic separations calculated with these radii give remarkably good agreement with experimental values. Some data are given in the table. Curiously, no theoretical justification for the equation containing has been given.

Non-spherical ions

The concept of ionic radii is based on the assumption of a spherical ion shape. However, from a group-theoretical point of view the assumption is only justified for ions that reside on high-symmetry crystal lattice sites like Na and Cl in halite or Zn and S in sphalerite. A clear distinction can be made, when the point symmetry group of the respective lattice site is considered, which are the cubic groups Oh and Td in NaCl and ZnS. For ions on lower-symmetry sites significant deviations of their electron density from a spherical shape may occur. This holds in particular for ions on lattice sites of polar symmetry, which are the crystallographic point groups C1, C1h, Cn or Cnv, n = 2, 3, 4 or 6. A thorough analysis of the bonding geometry was recently carried out for pyrite-type compounds, where monovalent chalcogen ions reside on C3 lattice sites. It was found that chalcogen ions have to be modeled by ellipsoidal charge distributions with different radii along the symmetry axis and perpendicular to it.