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Title: Cluster self-organization of TR-containing germanate systems: Suprapolyhedral precursors and self-assembly of the crystal structures of the LiNdGeO{sub 4} and CeGeO{sub 4} compounds

Journal Article · · Crystallography Reports
 [1]
  1. Russian Academy of Sciences, Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography (Russian Federation)

A combinatorial-topological analysis of the orthogermanates LiNdGeO{sub 4} (space group Pbcn) and CeGeO{sub 4} (space group I 4{sub 1}/a, the scheelite structure type), which have MT frameworks composed of polyhedral structural units in the form of M dodecahedra (NdO{sub 8} and CeO{sub 8}) and T tetrahedra (GeO{sub 4}), is performed using the method of coordination sequences with the TOPOS program package. It is established that the structures of both orthogermanates are characterized by equivalent crystal-forming nets 4444. The cluster precursors of the M{sub 2}T{sub 2} cyclic type are identified by the method of two-color decomposition. The local symmetry of four-polyhedral clusters corresponds to the point group 2. In the precursor of the LiNdGeO{sub 4} orthogermanate, the Li atom is located above the M{sub 2}T{sub 2} ring. The number of Li-O bonds in this precursor is 4. The cluster precursors M{sub 2}T{sub 2} and LiM{sub 2}T{sub 2} are responsible for the formation of crystal-forming clusters of a higher level according to the mechanism of matrix self-assembly. The coordination numbers of the cluster precursors in two-dimensional nets for these structures are found to be equal to 4. The equivalent bilayer TR,Ge stacks that consist of eight cluster precursors are revealed in the structures under investigation. It is demonstrated that there exist three types of translational interlayer arrangements of cluster precursors upon the formation of macrostructures of the orthogermanates.

OSTI ID:
21090892
Journal Information:
Crystallography Reports, Vol. 52, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1134/S1063774507040049; Copyright (c) 2007 Nauka/Interperiodica; Article Copyright (c) 2007 Pleiades Publishing, Inc; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-7745
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English