In the zinc blende structure , zinc ions occupy alternate tetrahedral voids and S2- ions exists as ccp. The radii of Zn ²⁺ and S^2- ions are 0.83 A° and 1.74 A° respectively. Then the edge length of the Zn unit cell is :-

(a) 2.57 A° (b) 5.14 A° (c) 2,96 A° (d) 4.86 A°

Dear student

The ionic radius of the zinc(II) ion is 0.74 Å and that of the sulfide ion is 1.70 Å. The ratio of radii for the cation and anion is thus r₊/r_- = 0.74/1.70 = 0.44.

With a radius ratio of 0.44, one might expect the zinc(II) ions to occupy octahedral holes; however, the value of 0.44 is only slightly larger than r_hole/r = 0.414 for an octahedral hole. There is also some covalent character in the Zn²⁺-S^2- interaction, which tends to shorten the interatomic distance. Experimentally, one finds that the zinc(II) ions occupy tetrahedral holes.

If the sulfide ions originally adopt a hexagonal closest-packed structure, the ZnS crystal is wurtzite. If the sulfide ions originally adopt a cubic closest-packed structure, the ZnS crystal is zinc blende.

The virtual reality displays depict the structure of zinc blende. The yellow spheres represent the sulfide ions and the blue spheres represent the zinc(II) ions.