Crystal and Electronic Structures of MoSi2-Type CrGe2 Synthesized under High Pressure

Takuya Sasaki; Kota Kanie; Tatsuya Yokoi; Ken Niwa; Nico Alexander Gaida; Katsuyuki Matsunaga; Masashi Hasegawa

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c03240

Crystal and Electronic Structures of MoSi₂-Type CrGe₂ Synthesized under High Pressure

Inorg Chem. 2021 Feb 1;60(3):1767-1772. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c03240. Epub 2021 Jan 14.

Authors

Takuya Sasaki¹, Kota Kanie¹, Tatsuya Yokoi¹, Ken Niwa¹, Nico Alexander Gaida¹, Katsuyuki Matsunaga¹, Masashi Hasegawa¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Materials Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8603, Japan.

PMID: 33444497
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c03240

Abstract

Chromium germanides, namely, Nowotny chimney-ladder-phase CrGe_1.77 and MoSi₂-type CrGe₂, were synthesized above 15 GPa or more via laser heating using a diamond anvil cell (LHDAC). MoSi₂-type CrGe₂, which is the most Ge-rich compound in the Cr-Ge system, crystallizes in the tetragonal structure with a space group of I4/mmm (no. 139) and lattice parameters of a = 3.24919(6) Å and c = 8.0523(3) Å and is isostructural with MoSi₂. MoSi₂-type CrGe₂ has a deep pseudogap caused by the splitting of 3d orbitals with Cr, as evidenced by ab initio calculation. In this article, we have succeeded in synthesizing a binary compound between transition-metal and metalloid elements for the first time at high pressures above 10 GPa using the LHDAC. This pathway opens the possibility to explore more compounds in this system and may provide new insights into the fundamental interaction between these two elements.