Structural models of amorphous selenium -: art. no. 172201

Neutron-diffraction experiments were performed on ball-milled amorphous selenium. The structure factor of the material was interpreted by means of reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) modeling. In addition, detailed RMC studies were carried out on numerous sets of diffraction data previously reported for amorphous Se. Based on this comparative study, it is suggested that the material, independent of the method of preparation, contains chain molecules of variable lengths and that the dominance of Se-8 rings is improbable. However, there are indications that diffraction data alone are insufficient for determining if the system contains predominantly chain- or ringlike molecules.