Crystal structure, chemical bonding, and physical properties of layered AIrSn2 (A = Sr and Ba)

• Published in: Journal of materials science 2019-08, Vol.54 (16), p.11127-11133
• Main Authors: Marshall, Madalynn, Xing, Lingyi, Sobczak, Zuzanna, Blawat, Joanna, Klimczuk, Tomasz, Jin, Rongying, Xie, Weiwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Barium; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical bonds; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Crystal structure; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Crystals; Electronic Materials; Electronic structure; Materials Science; Physical properties; Polymer Sciences; Single crystals; Solid Mechanics; Stannides; Strontium; Structural stability; Superconductivity
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-019-03681-8

We report the experimental and theoretical investigation of structure, chemical bonding interactions, and physical properties of new ternary stannides AIrSn 2 (A = Sr and Ba). AIrSn 2 (A = Sr and Ba) crystallizes in the orthorhombic Re 3 B-type structure with the space group Cmcm (No. 64). According to single-crystal X-ray diffraction results, the structure of AIrSn 2 (A = Sr and Ba) can be considered as a Zintl-type compound with heterogeneous polyanionic [IrSn 2 ] 2− and A 2+ . The specific heat down to 1.8 K shows no evidence for bulk superconductivity in either SrIrSn 2 or BaIrSn 2 . Electronic structure calculations, especially chemical bonding interactions in SrIrSn 2 and BaIrSn 2 , match well with the observed structural stability and metallic nature.