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The new ternary intermetallic compound ZrAl0.23Ge1.77 was observed after annealing at 600°C, and its crystal structure was determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The structure (own structure type, Pearson symbol tI32-8, space group I41/amd, a = 3.8013(2), c = 29.893(3) Å, Z = 4) is a variant with partial positional disorder of the pseudo-binary structure type Zr0.75AlSi1.25. The structures are members of the family of linear intergrowth structures composed of AlB2-type slabs (layers of centered trigonal prisms) and CaF2-type slabs (layers of empty “half octahedra”), here in the ratio 1:2. The structure of ZrAl0.23Ge1.77 is characterized by statistical occupation by Al and Ge of one of the sites forming the CaF2-type slabs and positional disorder of the Ge atoms that form zig-zag chains along the crystallographic direction [100].

Silicon has become the most promising anode material for industrial application to replace the currently utilized graphite because of its large capacity and abundant reserves. However, its poor electronic conductivity and slow Li-ionic diffusion capability along with severe volume expansion impede its high-rate performace. To resolve these issues, we develop a ternary BiSbSi compound with a layered lattice, which presents significantly improved reaction kinetics of 300 mA h g−1 at 20 A g−1 enabled by faster electronic conduction and lithium ion diffusion and simultaneously reduce the volume variation, thus leading to longer cycling stability of remaining 561 mA h g−1 after 1000 cycles at 2 A g−1, compared with Si counterparts. Broadly the ternary layered Si-based anodes hold great promises to be applied in the near future.

Abstract Germanium is considered as a potential anode material for sodium-ion batteries due to its fascinating theoretical specific capacity. However, its poor cyclability resulted from the sluggish kinetics and large volume change during repeated charge/discharge poses major threats for its further development. One solution is using its ternary compound as an alternative to improve the cycling stability. Here, high-purity CuGeO3 nanowires were prepared via a facile hydrothermal method, and their sodium storage performances were firstly explored. The as-obtained CuGeO3 delivered an initial charge capacity of 306.7 mAh g−1 along with favorable cycling performance, displaying great promise as a potential anode material for sodium ion batteries.

Phase equilibria were studied in the system Ni-Sn-Bi. Special attention has been paid to the identification of the recently found ternary phase. For this purpose samples were synthesized using intimately mixed powders. After annealing and quenching, all alloys were analyzed by scanning electron microscope and by X-ray diffraction. The results give evidences about the existence of a ternary compound with approximate formula Ni6Sn2Bi to Ni7Sn2Bi. Overlapping of some neighboring diffraction peaks of this phase with NiBi and Ni3Sn_LT is the reason for the difficulties related to the X-ray diffraction identification of the ternary phase.