A new ternary silicide GdFe1− x Si2 (x=0.32): preparation, crystal and electronic structure

Abstract

Abstract The title compound was prepared from the elements by arc-melting. The crystal structure was investigated by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction. It crystallizes in the TbFeSi2 structure type, orthorhombic space group Cmmm, a = 4.0496(8), b = 16.416(2), c = 3.9527(6) Å, Z = 4, R1 = 0.041, wR2 = 0.11 for 207 unique reflections with I o > 2 σ(I o) and 19 refined parameters. The Fe position is not fully occupied and the refinement results in a composition GdFe0.68Si2 in agreement with a chemical analysis. The structure consists of zig-zag chains of Si(1) atoms which are terminally bound to additional Si(2) atoms. For an ordered variant GdFe0.5Si2 the Zintl concept can be applied which results in formal oxidation states Gd3+(Fe2+)0.5Si(1)1−Si(2)3−. The electronic structure of this variant GdFe0.5Si2 was analyzed using the tight-binding LMTO method and the results confirm the simple bonding picture.