New Evidence Concerning the Structure of Amorphous Red Phosphorus

Helical strands from P2 and P10 units (see structure below), recently predicted by ab initio calculations to be thermodynamically stable, and shortly thereafter discovered as a structural element in (CuI)3P12, might be the major component of amorphous red phosphorus. Radial distribution functions calculated on the basis of this structural model are in very good agreement with experimentally determined diagrams.