ABSTRACT
A new compound of the composition Ba4Si3Br2 was obtained by reacting BaSi with a melt of BaBr2. Ba4Si3Br2 may be described as a double salt between a Zintl phase and a halide. The structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (P21c, a= 1504.1(2), b = 884.5(1), c = 880.2(1) pm, beta = 101.93(2) degrees, R = 0.041 Rw = 0.079). The crystal structure contains isolated barium cations and bromide anions as well as novel singly bonded cyclotrisilicid units. The electronic structure has been studied by linear Muffin tin orbital (LMTO) band structure calculations, which reveal semiconducting behavior with a band gap of about 0.1 eV, and by an analysis of the electron localization function.
ABSTRACT
The structures of two novel Zintl phases, Ba6Mg5.2Li2.8Si12 and BaMg0.1Li0.9Si2, are presented. Both compounds contain chains in cis-trans conformation. The silicon partial structure of Ba6Mg5.2Li2.8Si12 (C2/m; a = 1212.0(1), b = 459.78(4), c = 1129.10(9) pm; beta = 91.77(2) degrees; Z = 1) is built of unbranched, planar Si6 chains while BaMg0.1Li0.9Si2 (Pnma; a = 725.92(5), b = 461.36(3), c = 1169.08(8) pm; Z = 4) consists of infinite Si(n) chains. The compounds show all electronic and structural characteristics that are typical for the special subset of Zintl phases with highly charged planar anions. The structures of the new compounds, as well as that of Ba2Mg3Si4, can be derived from the common parent type BaMg2Si2. It is shown that a comprehensive picture of a chemical twinning based on BaMg2Si2 can be derived.
