On the partial structure factors of molten zinc chloride

The partial structure factors (PSF) of molten ZnCl₂ at 600 K have been known since 1981 due to the neutron diffraction experiments by Biggin and Enderby (S. Biggin and J. E. Enderby, J. Phys. C, 1981, 14, 3129). It is shown in this article that the set of PSF derived from this experiment is not consistent with new X-ray diffraction data with much better statistical accuracy. A new set of PSF is derived, which corrects this defficiency. The first diffraction peak is not dominated by the cation-cation-PSF and the set of PSF shows similarities to the PSF of glassy GeO₂ and SiO₂ and determined recently. The derived PSF are shown to be insensitive to whether ionic or atomic form-factors are used.