Mercury(II)_selenide

Mercury selenide

Mercury selenide

Chemical compound

Mercury selenide (HgSe; sometimes mercury(II) selenide) is a chemical compound of mercury and selenium. It is a grey-black crystalline solid semi-metal with a sphalerite structure. The lattice constant is 0.608 nm.

Quick Facts Names, Identifiers ...

HgSe occurs naturally as the mineral Tiemannite, and is a component of the "intimate mixture" of HgSe and Se known as HgSe2.[1]

Along with other II-VI compounds, colloidal nanocrystals of HgSe can be formed.

Applications

  • Selenium is used in filters in some steel plants to remove mercury from exhaust gases. The solid product formed is HgSe.
  • HgSe can be used as an ohmic contact to wide-gap II-VI semiconductors such as zinc selenide or zinc oxide.

Toxicity

HgSe is non-toxic as long as it is not ingested due to its insolubility. Toxic hydrogen selenide fumes can be evolved on exposure to acids. HgSe is a relatively stable compound which might mean that it is less toxic than elemental mercury or many organometallic mercury compounds. Selenium's ability to complex with mercury has been proposed as a reason for the lack of mercury toxicity in deep sea fish despite high mercury levels.[2]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Park, Chang-Woo; Smith, Donna M.; Pell, Michael A.; Ibers, James A. (1997). "Different Products from the Chemical and Electrochemical Reduction of 'HgSe2': [K(2.2.2-cryptand)]2[HgSe2] and [PPh4]2[Hg(Se4)2]·en". Inorg. Chem. 36 (5): 942–943. doi:10.1021/ic960786v.
  2. [2]
    Watanabe, C. (2002). "Modification of Mercury Toxicity by Selenium: Practical Importance?". The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine. 196 (2): 71–77. doi:10.1620/tjem.196.71. PMID 12498318.
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