Skip to main content

Rundown about Gallium and its Chemical Properties

Gallium is a soft silvery-white metal, inert and nontoxic; it possesses characteristics different to those of other metals. It is liquid at near room temperature, and brittle solid at lower temperatures. Gallium is one of four metals -- mercury, cesium, and rubidium that can be used in high-temperature thermometers. Gallium may be cooled to 0 °C without solidifying, and is denser as a liquid than as a solid. It has a high tendency to supercool below its freezing point. Moreover, gallium has one of the longest liquid ranges of any metal and even at high temperatures; it has a low vapor pressure. Soluble in acid, alkali and slightly soluble in mercury. High-purity gallium is attacked slowly only by mineral acids.
Melting point: 29.76 °C
Boiling point: 2204 °C
Density: 5.904 gm/cc
Thermal Conductivity: 0.281 W/cm/K @ 302.93 K
Electrical Resistivity: 17.4 microhm-cm @ 20 oC
Electronegativity: 1.6
Originally discovered in 1875, gallium, at the time, was primarily used to make alloys with melting point. Nowadays gallium is mostly used in the production of electronic components, in the form of compounds.
Gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN), and copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) are used in the production of many electronic applications in semiconductors parts such as integrated circuits, transistors, light-emitting diodes, laser diodes, photo detectors and solar cells. The components listed above are crucial in the manufacture of high-performance computers and smartphones alongside with the aerospace and telecommunications industries.
A Gallium ingot is a cast, normally with a rectangular or round shape and therefore, a seeding is usually necessary for solidification. Shot and ingots are packaged to order and sold by the gram or kilogram.
Applications of Gallium:
  • ­Gallium is used in transistors and amplifiers.
  • ­Gallium is used in Light Emitting Diode (LED) for electronic displays and watches.
  • ­Gallium is used in the formation of different low melting alloys
  • ­Gallium is used in the making of different mirrors and glass coatings to form bright and highly reflective surfaces.
  • ­Gallium is used in the manufacturing of high temperature thermometers.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Applications

General Information about Molybdenum Trioxide                                                     Molybdenum trioxide is chemical compound with the formula MoO3. Its chief application is as an oxidation catalyst and as a raw material for the production of molybdenum metal.  Molybdenum Trioxide  is a very light blue powder. Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Their Applications                                                    Like many  nanoparticles/nanopowder , Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/nanopowder are used as catalysts. These catalysis reactions include hydrogenation catalysis and cracking catalysis. Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/  nanopowder are useful for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Improving Dialysis Process with Graphene

Researchers from Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Departments of MIT recently showed that graphene is a powerful material candidate for use in the dialysis systems (such as hemodialysis machines in medical institutes for filtering human blood). In order to prepare graphene as a dialysis material, researchers used a procedure opposite to the general treatments that nanotechnology people use. Dialysis is a process of filtering different solutions such as human blood by a membrane in order to remove waste molecules, drugs, chemical residues from the solution. In some cases, the process can be used for purification of chemicals or isolation of different molecules for medical diagnosis. It is an essential process for scientists especially in the medical operations. Image Retrieved From: http://www.graphene-nownano.manchester.ac.uk/our-research/examples-of-current-projects/fundamental-science/use-of-graphene-as-bio-membrane/ The traditional membranes used in dialysis are thick ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rundown about Silicon Oxide Wafer

The main insulating material used in micro-technology is Silicon Dioxide, which in chemical symbols is written as SiO2. In semiconductor technology, SiO2 thin film layers are mainly used as dielectric material film in transistors, capacitors (DRAM) or flash-memories. Silicon Oxide Wafers are produced using crystallization, solid state and other ultra-high purification processes such as sublimation. This process forms a cylindrical ingot, which is then sliced and polished to form wafers. Thermal oxide is a kind of "grown" oxide layer, compared to CVD deposited oxide layer, it has a higher uniformity, and higher dielectric strength, it is an excellent dielectric layer as an insulator . In most silicon- based devices, thermal oxide layer play an important role to pacify the silicon surface to act as doping barriers and as surface dielectrics. The simplest way to produce an insulating silicon oxide layers (SiO2) on silicon wafers is to oxidize silicon with oxygen, which ...
Post a Comment
Read more