On Chemical Bonding in ht -Ga 3 Rh and Its Effect on Structural Organization and Thermoelectric Behavior.

In the course of systematic studies of intermetallic compounds Ga ₃ TM (TM─transition metal), the compound Ga ₃ Rh is synthesized by direct reaction of the elements at 700 °C. The material obtained is characterized as a high-temperature modification of Ga ₃ Rh. Powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses reveal tetragonal symmetry (space group P 4 ₂ / mnm , No. 146) with a = 6.4808(2) Å and c = 6.5267(2) Å. Large values and strong anisotropy of the atomic displacement parameters of Ga atoms indicate essential disorder in the crystal structure. A split-position technique is applied to describe the real crystal structure of ht -Ga ₃ Rh. Bonding analysis in ht -Ga ₃ Rh performed on ordered models with the space groups P 1̅, P 4 ₂ nm , and P 4 ₂ 2 ₁ 2 shows, besides the omnipresent heteroatomic Ga-Rh bonds in the rhombic prisms _∞ ³ [Ga _8/2 Rh ₂ ], the formation of homoatomic Ga-Ga bonds bridging the Rh-Rh contacts and the absence of significant Rh-Rh bonding. These features are essential reasons for the experimentally observed disorder in the lattice. In agreement with the calculated electronic density of states, ht -Ga ₃ Rh shows temperature-dependent electrical resistivity of a "bad metal". The very low lattice thermal conductivity of less than 0.5 W m ^-1 K ^-1 at 300 K, being lower than those for most other Ga ₃ TM compounds, correlates with the enhanced bonding complexity.