The ternary system Au-Ba-Si: Clathrate solution, electronic structure, physical properties, phase equilibria and crystal structures

Autor(en)
Isolde Zeiringer, Mingxing Chen, Andrij Grytsiv, Ernst Bauer, Raimund Podloucky, Herta Silvia Effenberger, Peter Franz Rogl
Abstrakt

We report on (i) the phase relations at 800 °C within the ternary system Au–Ba–Si up to 33.3 at.% Ba, (ii) on the crystallographic data of new ternary compounds, (iii) on details of the clathrate type I solid solution, (iv) on electrical and thermal transport measurements for Ba8Au5.1Si40.9 supported by (v) density functional theory calculations. The clathrate type I solid solution Ba8AuxSi46-x at 800 °C extends from Ba8Au4Si42 (a = 1.039 nm) to Ba8Au6Si40 (a = 1.042 nm). The cubic primitive symmetry (space group View the MathML source) was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction in the whole homogeneity region. The lattice parameters of the solid solution show an almost linear increase with increasing gold content and site preferences from X-ray refinement confirm that gold atoms preferably occupy the 6d site in random mixture with Si atoms. The phase equilibria at 800 °C are characterized by seven ternary phases in the investigated region up to 33.3 at.% Ba. The homogeneity range has been established for Ba(Au1-xSix)2 (AlB2 type, extending from BaAu0.4Si1.6 to BaAu0.9Si1.1). BaAu2+xSi2-x (unknown structure type) exhibits a very small homogeneity range (x = 0.6-0.7) and two other ternary phases exist at about 22 at.% Ba, 52 at.% Au and 28 at.% Si and 20 at.% Ba, 58 at.% Au and 22 at.% Si (structure types for both unknown). The crystal structures of two further novel phases in the gold-rich part have been determined from single crystal X-ray data: BaAu3+xSi1-x of BaAu3Ge type (x = 0-0.3, space group P4/nmm, x = 0: a = 0.6488(2), c = 0.5305(2) nm) and BaAu5-xSi2+x (x = 0-0.2, own structure type, space group Pnma, x = 0: a = 0.8935(2), b = 0.6939(2), c = 1.0363(2) nm). The proximity of Ba8AuxSi46-x to a metal to insulator transition is corroborated by density functional theory electronic structure calculations. A gap in the electronic density of states, located near the Fermi energy, gives rise to distinct features of the temperature-dependent electrical resistivity and Seebeck effect.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Institut für Mineralogie und Kristallographie
Externe Organisation(en)
Technische Universität Wien
Journal
Acta Materialia
Band
60
Seiten
2324-2336
Anzahl der Seiten
13
ISSN
1359-6454
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2011.12.040
Publikationsdatum
2012
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
104017 Physikalische Chemie, 105113 Kristallographie
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/dd104c00-b308-4a8f-9cbc-060c6ec1929b