Palladium

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Vymazalováite, Pd3Bi2S2 is a new platinum-group mineral discovered in the Komsomolsky mine of the Talnakh deposit, Noril’sk district, Russia. It forms small (from a few μm to 20–35 µm) inclusions or euhedral grains in intergrowths of polarite, sobolevskite, acanthite and unnamed (Pd,Ag)5BiS2 in aggregates (up to ~200 µm) in galena and rarely in chalcopyrite. It occurs with telargpalite, cooperite, braggite, vysotskite, sopcheite, stibiopalladinite, sobolevskite, moncheite, kotulskite, malyshevite, insizwaite, Au-bearing silver and the newly described mineral kravtsovite (PdAg2S) in association with pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena in vein-disseminated mineralization in skarn rocks. Synthetic vymazalováite is brittle; it has a metallic lustre and a grey streak. In plane-polarized reflected light, vymazalováite is creamy grey and appears slightly brownish against galena in the assemblage with chalcopyrite. It exhibits no internal reflections. Average reflectance values in air for natural and synthetic vymazalováite are (R natural, R synthetic in %) are: 46.35, 45.7 at 470 nm, 47.65, 47.45 at 546 nm, 48.5, 48.2 at 589 nm and 49.5, 49.0 at 650 nm. Seven electron probe micro-analyses of vymazalováite give an average composition: Pd 40.42, Bi 49.15, Ag 0.55, Pb 1.02, S 7.77 and Se 0.26, total 99.17 wt.%, corresponding to the empirical formula Pd3.05(Bi1.89Ag0.04Pb0.04)Σ1.97(S1.95Se0.03)Σ1.98 based on a total of 7 atoms per formula unit. The simplified formula is Pd3Bi2S2. The mineral is cubic, space group I213, with a = 8.3097(9) Å, V = 573.79(1) Å3 and Z = 4. The density calculated on the basis of the empirical formula and cell dimensions of synthetic vymazalováite is 9.25 g/cm3. The strongest lines in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern of synthetic vymazalováite [d in Å (I) (hkl)] are: 4.15(32)(200), 2.93(78)(220), 2.40(100)(220), 2.08(53)(400), 1.695(34)(422), 1.468(35)(440) and 1.252(31)(622). The structural identity of natural vymazalováite with synthetic Pd3Bi2S2 was confirmed by electron back-scatter diffraction measurements on the natural sample. This new mineral honours Dr Anna Vymazalová of the Czech Geological Survey, Prague.

We present ab initio pseudo-potential plane-wave total-energy calculations for the geometric and electronic structure of the CO-covered Pd(110) surface. Our calculations were performed within the local-density approximation (LDA) of density functional theory (DFT). There has been some controversy as to whether CO prefers to adsorb at a bridge or on-top site when exposed to Pd(110). Total energy calculations for a CO monolayer adsorbed at the on-top and bridge adsorption sites revealed the bridge site adsorption to be favored by 0.59 eV per CO molecule. The preferential adsorption of CO to the bridge site was further corroborated by our band-structure calculations, with only the bridge site results being in good agreement with recent inverse photoemission experiments.