Crystallographic, electronic and magnetic studies of Ce4Ni6Al23: a new ternary intermetallic compound in the cerium-nickel-aluminum phase diagram

摘要

The Al-rich portion of the ternary Ce-Ni-Al has been investigated and a new ternary phase of composition Ce4Ni6Al23 has been found. This compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/m with the cell parameters a = 16.042(8) b = 4.140(4), c = 18.380(8) Angstrom and beta = 113.24(5)degrees. The structure has been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The local environment of Ni and Cc is close to what is observed in the CeNi2Al5 and CeNiAl4 structures. Band structure calculations, using the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital-atomic-spheres approximation (TB-LMTO-ASA) method, have been performed to understand the electronic structure of Ce4Ni6Al3 and the results are discussed in connection with those two other Ce-Ni-Al intermetallic compounds, which possess heavy-fermion behavior. Magnetic and heat capacity measurements have also been measured to analyze the low-temperature magnetic behavior of this new compound. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. [References: 26]