Synthesis, structure and properties of the new rare-earth Zintl phase Yb{sub 11}GaSb{sub 9}

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Journal of Solid State Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssc.2005.01.008· OSTI ID:20725875

Bobev, Svilen ^[1]; Fritsch, Veronika ^[2]; Thompson, Joe D ^[2]; Sarrao, John L ^[2]; Eck, Bernhard ^[3]; Dronskowski, Richard ^[3]; Kauzlarich, Susan M ^[4]

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1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware, 304A Drake Hall, Newark, DE 19716 (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Laboratory, MST-10/MS K764, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
3. Institut fuer Anorganische Chemie, Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule, 52056 Aachen (Germany)
4. Department of Chemistry, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616 (United States)

A new rare-earth rich Zintl phase Yb{sub 11}GaSb{sub 9} was synthesized by direct fusion of the corresponding elements, and large single crystals of the compound were obtained from high temperature flux synthesis. Its crystal structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction to be orthorhombic in the non-centrosymmetric space group Iba2 (No. 45), Z=4 (R{sub 1}=3.24%, wR{sub 2}=6.40%) with a=11.7257(12)A, b=12.3204(13)A, c=16.633(2)A measured at 90(3)K. The structure belongs to the Ca{sub 11}InSb{sub 9}-type and can be viewed as built of isolated Sb{sub 4}-tetrahedra centered by Ga, Sb-dimers and isolated Sb anions, which are separated by Yb{sup 2+} cations. Electron count according to the Zintl formalism suggests that the phase is electron-precise and charge-balanced, which is supported by the virtually temperature-independent magnetization for Yb{sub 11}GaSb{sub 9}. Electrical resistivity data from 2 to 400K confirm that Yb{sub 11}GaSb{sub 9} is a small band-gap semiconductor with room temperature resistivity {rho}{sub 298}=45.1m{omega}cm, and low-temperature resistivity at 2K {rho}{sub 2}=1.9{omega}cm. As such, Yb{sub 11}GaSb{sub 9} and related compounds might be promising materials for thermoelectric applications, and currently, efforts to synthesize new members of this family and test their thermoelectric performance are under way.

• OSTI ID: 20725875
• Journal Information: Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Solid State Chemistry Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 178; ISSN 0022-4596; ISSN JSSCBI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
CATIONS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
FLUX SYNTHESIS
GALLIUM ANTIMONIDES
MAGNETIZATION
MONOCRYSTALS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPACE GROUPS
SPECIFIC HEAT
SYNTHESIS
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
YTTERBIUM COMPOUNDS
YTTERBIUM IONS