Gold in the Layered Structures of R₃Au₇Sn₃: From Relativity to Versatility

Abstract

A series of isotypes of ternary rare earth element-gold-tetrel intermetallic compounds have been synthesized, and their structures and properties have been characterized. R3Au7Sn3 (R = Y, La-Nd, Sm, Gd-Tm, Lu) crystallize with the hexagonal Gd3Au7Sn3 prototype (Pearson symbol hP26; P63/m, a = 8.110–8.372 Å, c = 9.351–9.609 Å, Vcell = 532.7–583.3 Å3, Z = 2), an ordered variant of the Cu10Sn3-type. Their structures are built up by GdPt2Sn-type layers, which feature edge-sharing Sn@Au6 trigonal antiprisms connected by trigonal R3 groups. Additional insertion of gold atoms leads to the formation of new homoatomic Au clusters, Au@Au6; alternatively, the structure can be considered as a superstructural polyhedral packing of the ZrBeSi-type. The magnetization, heat capacity, and electrical resistivity have been measured for R3Au7Sn3 (R = Ce, Pr, Nd, and Tb). All four compounds order antiferromagnetically with the highest TN of 13 K for Tb3Au7Sn3. In Ce3Au7Sn3, which has a TN of 2.9 K, the heat capacity and electrical resistivity data in zero and applied fields indicate the presence of Kondo interaction. The coefficient of the linear term in the electronic heat capacity, γ, derived from the heat capacity data below 0.5 K is 211 mJ/Ce mol K2, suggesting strong electronic correlations due to the Kondo interaction. The electronic structure calculations based on the projector augmented wave method for particular representatives of the series suggest different tendencies of the localized R-4f atomic orbitals (AOs) to hybridize with the valence states. LMTO-based bonding analysis on the nonmagnetic La3Au7Sn3 indicates that the integrated crystal orbital Hamilton populations are dominated by the heteroatomic Au–Sn contacts; however, contributions from La–Au and La–Sn separations are significant, both together exceeding 40% in the overall bonding. Homoatomic Au–Au interactions are evident for the Au@Au6 units, but, despite of the high atomic concentration of Au in the compound, they do not dominate the entire bonding picture

Revisiting the Zintl‒Klemm Concept for ALn2Ag3Te5-Type Alkaline-Metal (A) Lanthanide (Ln) Silver Tellurides

“…This outcome is a consequence of the lanthanide contraction, which implicates a decrease in the effective atomic radii of the rare-earth elements with an increase in the atomic numbers. Notably, the decrease in the volumes is more evident among the tellurides containing lighter lanthanides (Ln = La−Sm) than among the tellurides composed of heavier lanthanides (Ln = Gd−Er)-a circumstance that has also been previously [29] encountered for rare-earth-metal-containing intermetallics.…”

Revealing the Bonding Nature in an ALnZnTe3-Type Alkaline-Metal (A) Lanthanide (Ln) Zinc Telluride by Means of Experimental and Quantum-Chemical Techniques

“…A comparison of the volumes of the unit cells of RbLnZnTe 3 (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy; Table 1) to those of the isostructural cesium-containing [59] tellurides (V CsGdZnTe 3 = 863.55 Å 3 ; V CsTbZnTe 3 = 857.10 Å 3 ; V CsDyZnTe 3 = 851.11 Å 3 ) shows that the unit cell volumes of the latter are larger than those of the former. This is because of the decreased covalent radius [60] from cesium (2.44 Å) to rubidium (2.20 Å); yet, the unit cell volumes within the series RbLnZnTe 3 (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy) solely exhibit a very small variation-a circumstance that has also been encountered for different polar intermetallics containing heavier lanthanides [24,[61][62][63]. In the following, the crystal structure of this type of quaternary telluride will be prototypically depicted for RbDyZnTe 3 .…”

Revealing the Nature of Chemical Bonding in an ALn2Ag3Te5-Type Alkaline-Metal (A) Lanthanide (Ln) Silver Telluride

“…The praseodymium 4f states were treated as core-like states-a procedure that has been widely used elsewhere [34,35,64,65]. More specifically, the aforementioned handling of the rare-earth-metal 4f states has been substantiated by previous explorations [34,35,[65][66][67] on the electronic structures of rare-earth-containing compounds. Namely, the bands corresponding to the rare-earth-metal 4f atomic orbitals are typically related to modest dispersions and, hence, are rather localized such that these states scarcely participate in overall bonding.…”