Molecular structures of bulk and surface metal oxides by Raman spectroscopy: The diatomic approximation

The diatomic approximation is developed for evaluating the Raman spectra of transition metal oxide catalysts. Empirical correlations are established for relating Raman stretching frequencies of bismuth-, vanadium-, niobium-, molybdenum-, and tungsten-oxygen bonds to their respective bond lengths. The precision in determining a metal-oxygen bond length from its Raman stretching frequency is ;Applications of the empirical correlations are illustrated by predicting Raman stretching frequencies for illustrated by predicting Raman stretching frequencies for perfect tetrahedral and octahedral metal oxide structures, determining the metal-oxygen bond lengths in bulk compounds (AlVO;The correlations are further used to determine the coordination and bond lengths of the metal oxide species in the catalytically important Bi...