RESUMO
The hydrogenation properties of Laves phases LnMg2 (Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb) were investigated by thermal analysis, X-ray, synchrotron, and neutron powder diffraction. At 14.0 MPa hydrogen gas pressure and 393 K, PrMg2 and NdMg2 take up hydrogen and form the colorless, ternary hydrides PrMg2H7 (P41212, a = 632.386(6) pm, c = 945.722(11) pm) and NdMg2H7 (P41212, a = 630.354(9) pm, c = 943.018(16) pm). The crystal structures were refined by the Rietveld method from neutron powder diffraction data on the deuterides (PrMg2D7, P41212, a = 630.56(2) pm, c = 943.27(3) pm; NdMg2D7, P41212, a = 628.15(2) pm, c = 940.32(3) pm) and shown to be isotypic to LaMg2D7. The LaMg2D7 type of hydrides decompose at 695 K (La), 684 K (Ce), 684 K (Pr), 672 K (Nd), and 639 K (Sm) to lanthanide hydrides and magnesium. The Laves phase EuMg2 forms a hydride EuMg2Hx of black color. Its crystal structure (P212121, a = 664.887(4) pm, b = 1136.993(7) pm, c = 1069.887(7) pm) is closely related to the hexagonal Laves phase (MgZn2 type) of the hydrogen-free parent intermetallic. GdMg2 and TbMg2 form hydrides GdMg2Hx with orthorhombic unit cells (a = 1282.7(4) pm, b = 572.5(2) pm, c = 881.7(2) pm) and TbMg2Hx (a = 617.8(3) pm, b = 1045.8(8) pm, c = 997.1(5) pm), presumably also with a distorted MgZn2 type of structure. CeMg2H7 and NdMg2H7 are paramagnetic with effective magnetic moments of 2.49(1) µB and 3.62(1) µB, respectively, in good agreement with the calculated magnetic moments of the free trivalent rare-earth cations (µcalc(Ce3+) = 2.54 µB; µcalc(Nd3+) = 3.62 µB).
