Exploring the correlation between chemical bonding and structural distortions in TbCu0.33Te2

Journal of Physics Condensed Matter, vol. 37, pp. 115501

Abstract

Abstract The design of solid-state materials requests a thorough understanding of the structural preferences among plausible structure models. Since the bond energy contributes to the formation energy of a given structure model, it also is decisive to determine the nature of chemical bonding for a given material. In this context, we were motivated to explore the correlation between chemical bonding and structural distortions within the low-dimensional tellurium fragments in TbCu0.33Te2. The ternary telluride was obtained from high-temperature solid-state reactions, while structure determinations based on x-ray diffraction experiments did not point to the presence of any structural distortion above 100 K. However, the results of first-principles-based computations indicate that a potential structural distortion within the low-dimensional tellurium fragments also correlates to an optimization of overall bonding.

Authors 2

1. Leander Weinelt Aachen Institute of Inorganic Chemistry

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Landoltweg 1, D-52074 Aachen, Germany

2. Simon Steinberg Aachen Institute of Inorganic Chemistry

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Landoltweg 1, D-52074 Aachen, Germany