Crystal structure of the compound DyGe 3

Abstract

Earlier investigations had indicated the presence of rare earth germanium compounds of a composition RGe x with x close to 3 of unknown structure. Neutron diffraction data obtained on the corresponding dysprosium compound show that the stoichiometry is DyGe 3. This compound crystallizes in a novel type of structure related to the CrB structure type. The structure is orthorhombic and comprises one dysprosium site and three germanium sites. It can be thought to be built up from DyGe by inserting slabs of trigonal prisms consisting of germanium atoms into the CrB type unit cell of DyGe.