Crystal structure and magnetic properties of PrNi₉Si₄ and NdNi₉Si₄

Chem. Met. Alloys 7 (2014) 68-73

https://doi.org/10.30970/cma7.0293

Bohdana BELAN, Mykola MANYAKO, Svitlana PUKAS, Yaroslav TOKAYCHUK, Roman GLADYSHEVSKII, Dariusz KACZOROWSKI

Two rare-earth nickel silicides, PrNi₉Si₄ and NdNi₉Si₄, were synthesized. Their crystal structures were refined from X-ray powder diffraction data: structure type CeNi_8.5Si_4.5, Pearson symbol tI56, space group I4/mcm, lattice parameters a = 7.8377(12), c = 11.4861(17) Å for the Pr-containing compound, and a = 7.836(2), c = 11.457(3) Å for the Nd-containing compound. Both structures have a fully ordered distribution of atoms. The two compounds are Curie-Weiss paramagnets due to magnetic moments carried on the rare-earth atoms, with no hint at any magnetic long-range ordering down to 1.72 K.

Unit cell of the RNi₉Si₄ (R = Pr, Nd) compounds

Keywords

Praseodymium / Neodymium / Nickel / Silicon / Intermetallic compounds / X-ray diffraction / Crystal structure / Magnetic properties