The crystal structures of two new compounds CoGeTe and PdSnTe were determined by means of conventional powder X-ray diffraction. These phases are of interest in materials science because of their possible thermoelectric applications.

The title compounds CoGeTe and PdSnTe were prepared from the elements by high-temperature solid-state reactions. The crystal structure of CoGeTe was solved by direct methods by means of EXPO2004 [1] program package and its crystal structure was found isostructural with PdSnTe. Both structures were refined by Rietveld method using FullProf program.

In the crystal structures of CoGeTe and PdSnTe (both space group Pbca, 3 independent atoms, Z = 8), each cobalt (palladium) atom is coordinated by three germanium (tin) and three tellurium atoms showing distorted octahedral coordination. One octahedral edge (Ge-Ge or Sn-Sn) in CoGeTe or in PdSnTe is shared with an adjacent octahedron, other vertices of [CoGe3Te3] and [PdSn3Te3] octahedra are connected by corners sharing. The crystal structures of title compounds can be also viewed as a ternary ordered variant of α-NiAs2 (also known as a mineral pararammelsbergite), which is transitional between the marcasite-type and the pyrite-type structures. Part of this work was submitted to the Journal of Alloys and Compounds [2,3]. 

1. A. Altomare, R. Caliandro, M. Camalli, C. Cuocci, C. Giacovazzo, A. Moliterni,
    R. Rizzi, J. Appl. Cryst. 37 (2004), 1025.
2. F. Laufek, J. Navrátil, J. Plášil, T. Plecháček, J. Alloys Compd. (2008), in press.
3. F. Laufek, A. Vymazalová, J. Navrátil, M. Drábek, J. Plášil,T. Plecháček,
    J. Alloys Compd. (2008), in press.

• Legal notice:
  

  Copyright (c) Pielaszek Research, all rights reserved.
  The above materials, including auxiliary resources, are subject to Publisher's copyright and the Author(s) intellectual rights. Without limiting Author(s) rights under respective Copyright Transfer Agreement, no part of the above documents may be reproduced without the express written permission of Pielaszek Research, the Publisher. Express permission from the Author(s) is required to use the above materials for academic purposes, such as lectures or scientific presentations.
  In every case, proper references including Author(s) name(s) and URL of this webpage: https://science24.com/paper/15368 must be provided.