An exceptionally-high diffraction quality dodecaboride LUB12: Growth and single-crystal structure

Abstract

Single crystals of LuB12 of exceptionally high diffraction quality confirmed by an accurate X-ray structure analysis are grown by the modified crucibleless inductive floating zone melting. A thoroughly treated single crystal is used to collect a high-resolution data set up to sinθ/λ = 1.36 Å−1 at 293 K, which has been reduced to 271 symmetry-independent reflections. Residual factors of the structure refinement in the Fm3¯m symmetry group are R1(|F|)/wR2(|F|) = 0.20/0.14% in a 13-parametric structure model. Revealed asymmetry of electron density distribution near average position of the Lu atom described using anharmonic displacement parameters.