Plutonium silicide is a binary inorganic compound of plutonium and silicon with the chemical formula PuSi.^[2][3][4] The compound forms gray crystals.

Synthesis

Reaction of plutonium dioxide and silicon carbide:

${\displaystyle {\mathsf {PuO_{2}+SiC\ {\xrightarrow {T))\ PuSi+CO_{2}\uparrow ))}$

Reaction of plutonium trifluoride with silicon:

${\displaystyle {\mathsf {4PuF_{3}+7Si\ {\xrightarrow {T))\ 4PuSi+3SiF_{4))))$

Physical properties

Plutonium silicide forms gray crystals of orthorhombic crystal system, space group Pnma, cell parameters: a = 0.7933 nm, b = 0.3847 nm, c = 0.5727 nm, Z = 4, TiSi type structure.

At a temperature of 72 K, plutonium silicide undergoes a ferromagnetic transition.^[5]