Lead dioxide

  • Formula: PbO2
  • Hill system formula: O2Pb1
  • CAS registry number: [1309-60-0]
  • Formula weight: 239.199
  • Class: oxide
  • Colour: brown or red
  • Appearance: crystalline powder
  • Melting point: 290°C (decomposes to Pb3O4)
  • Boiling point:
  • Density: 9640 kg m-3

The following are some synonyms of lead dioxide:

  • lead dioxide
  • lead(IV) oxide
  • lead oxide

The oxidation number of lead in lead dioxide is 4.

Synthesis

Pb(O2CMe)2 + Ca(OCl)2 + 4NaOH → 2PbO2 + CaCl2 + 4NaO2CMe + 2H2O

Lead(IV) oxide (PbO2, plumbic oxide) may be made by the oxidation in an alkaline solution of lead(II) ethanoate (plumbous acetate) with an oxidizer such as calcium hypochlorite. The product precipitates out in nearly quantitative yield. Lead(IV) oxide is a brown powder whose density is about 9000 kg m-3. On heating to 310°C it loses oxygen to form PbO. It is virtually insoluble in water.

Solid state structure

  • Geometry of lead:
  • Prototypical structure:

Crystal structure of lead dioxide

Element analysis

The table shows element percentages for PbO2 (lead dioxide).

Element %
O 13.38
Pb 86.62

Isotope pattern for PbO2

The chart below shows the calculated isotope pattern for the formula PbO2 with the most intense ion set to 100%.

References

The data on these compounds pages are assembled and adapted from the primary literature and several other sources including the following.

  • R.T. Sanderson in Chemical Periodicity, Reinhold, New York, USA, 1960.
  • N.N. Greenwood and A. Earnshaw in Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth, UK, 1997.
  • F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo, and M. Bochmann, in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
  • A.F. Trotman-Dickenson, (ed.) in Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1973.
  • R.W.G. Wyckoff, in Crystal Structures, volume 1, Interscience, John Wiley & Sons, 1963.
  • A.R.West in Basic solid state chemistry Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
  • A.F. Wells in Structural inorganic chemistry, 4th edition, Oxford, UK, 1975.
  • J.D.H. Donnay, (ed.) in Crystal data determinative tables, ACA monograph number 5, American Crystallographic Association, USA, 1963.
  • D.R. Lide, (ed.) in Chemical Rubber Company handbook of chemistry and physics, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 77th edition, 1996.
  • J.W. Mellor in A comprehensive treatise on inorganic and theoretical chemistry, volumes 1-16, Longmans, London, UK, 1922-1937.
  • J.E. Macintyre (ed.) in Dictionary of inorganic compounds, volumes 1-3, Chapman & Hall, London, UK, 1992.

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