Ho2Pd1.3Ge2.7 - a ternary AlB2-type cluster glass system

Leszek S Litzbarski; Tomasz Klimczuk; Michał J Winiarski

doi:10.1039/d1ra04422b

Ho₂Pd_1.3Ge_2.7 - a ternary AlB₂-type cluster glass system

RSC Adv. 2021 Jul 21;11(41):25187-25193. doi: 10.1039/d1ra04422b. eCollection 2021 Jul 19.

Authors

Leszek S Litzbarski¹, Tomasz Klimczuk¹, Michał J Winiarski¹

Affiliation

¹ Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Advanced Materials Center, Gdansk University of Technology Narutowicza 11/12 80-232 Gdansk Poland leszek.litzbarski@pg.edu.pl.

Abstract

We report a successful synthesis of a ternary AlB₂-type intermetallic compound. The phase purity was obtained by fine-tuning the Pd : Ge ratio out of the idealized 1 : 3. Attempts to synthesize an Er analogue were not successful. We discuss the instability of the Er analogue based on the atomic size ratio and also suggest that the increased stability of Ho₂Pd_1+x Ge_3-x in the Pd-rich range likely stems from a combination of atomic size ratio, electronic, and entropic factors. The new Ho₂Pd_1.3Ge_2.7 compound is found to exhibit cluster glass behavior with a freezing temperature of T ≈ 2.3 K.