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3D model (JSmol)
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PubChem CID
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Properties | |
CuLa2O4 | |
Molar mass | 405.353 g·mol−1 |
Appearance | solid |
Density | 7.05 g/cm3 |
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Lanthanum cuprate usually refers to the inorganic compound with the formula CuLa2O4. The name implies that the compound consists of a cuprate (CuOn]2n-) salt of lanthanum (La3+). In fact it is a highly covalent solid. It is prepared by high temperature reaction of lanthanum oxide and copper(II) oxide follow by annealing under oxygen.[1]
The material adopts a tetragonal structure related to potassium tetrafluoronickelate (K2NiF4), which is orthorhombic.[1][2] Replacement of some lanthanum by barium gives the quaternary phase CuLa1.85Ba0.15O4, called lanthanum barium copper oxide. That doped material displays superconductivity at −243 K, which at the time of its discovery was a high temperature. This discovery initiated research on cuprate superconductors and was the basis of a Nobel Prize in Physics to Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller.[3]