Beyond Bragg scattering: The structure of AgCN determined from total neutron diffraction

Total neutron diffraction has yielded accurate bond lengths, Ag-C = Ag-N = 2.06 (A) over circle and C-N = 1.16 (A) over circle, for the disordered crystalline solid AgCN. This information cannot be obtained from analysis of Bragg scattering studies, because the (-Ag-CN-)(n) chains are randomly displaced along the chain axis relative to each other by a root-mean-square displacement of 0.24 (A) over circle at 10 K. These results show the power of total neutron diffraction for determining structure in disordered systems.