Some physical and chemical properties of the anhydrous rare earth hexacyanoferrates (II & III).

Prussian blue and other transition metal hexacyanoferrates are known to undergo insertion reactions. The object of the work reported herein was to investigate the physical properties of the analogous rare earth complexes. The anhydrous rare earth hexacyanoferrates (II & III) are all simple cubic with a lattice parameter about 8A. They are all semiconductors with conductivity between 2x10(-5) - 2x10(-4) (ohm - cm) (-1) at 310K-410K. The colors of the rare earth hexacyanoferrates vary from green and blue to yellow, orange, and brown. Contrary to the transition metal hexacyanoferrates, the rare earth analogues do not undergo insertion but rather simple reduction from REFe (CN)(6) to RE(4)[Fe(CN)(6)](3).