Phase equilibria in the La-Mg-Ge system at 500 °C and crystal structure of the new ternary compounds La11Mg2Ge7 and LaMg3-xGe2

The whole 500 °C isothermal section of the La–Mg–Ge ternary system was constructed. The existence and crystal structure of three ternary compounds were confirmed: La2+xMg1-xGe2 (τ2, P4/mbm, tP10–Mo2FeB2, 0x0.25), La4Mg5Ge6 (τ3, Cmc21, oS60–Gd4Zn5Ge6) and La4Mg7Ge6 (τ4, C12/m1, mS34, own structure type). Five novel compounds were identified and structurally characterized: La11Mg2Ge7 (τ1, P42/ncm, tP88-8, own structure type, a = 1.21338(5), c = 1.57802(6) nm), LaMg3-xGe2 (τ5, P 3¯1c, hP34-0.44, own structure type, x=0.407(5), a = 0.78408(4), c = 1.45257(7) nm), La6Mg23Ge (τ6, Fm3¯m, cF120–Zr6Zn23Si, a = 1.46694(6) nm), La4MgGe10-x (τ7, x=0.37(1), C2/m, mS60-1.46, own structure type, a = 0.88403(8), b = 0.86756(8), c = 1.7709(2) nm, β=97.16°(1) and La2MgGe6 (τ8, Cmce, oS72–Ce2(Ga0.1Ge0.9)7, a = 0.8989(2), b = 0.8517(2), c = 2.1064(3) nm). Disordering phenomena were revealed in several La–Mg–Ge phases in terms of partially occupied sites. The crystal structures of La11Mg2Ge7 and LaMg3-xGe2 are discussed in details. The latter is a √3a×√3a×2c superstructure of the LaLi3Sb2 structure type; the symmetry reduction scheme is shown in the Bärnighausen formalism terms.