K. Hartjes et W. Jeitschko, CRYSTAL-STRUCTURES AND MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF THE LANTHANOID NICKEL ANTIMONIDES LNNISB (LN=LA-ND, SM, GD-TM, LU), Journal of alloys and compounds, 226(1-2), 1995, pp. 81-86
The structure of the new compound LaNiSb has been refined by the Rietv
eld technique from X-ray powder data. It is isotypic with ZrBeSi and h
as the hexagonal lattice constants a = 440.60(3) pm, c = 839.64(5) pm.
The compounds LnNiSb (Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) have the same structure. T
he cubic MgAgAs-type structure of the antimonides LnNiSb (Ln = Gd-Tm,
Lu) was confirmed. The magnetic properties of these compounds were inv
estigated with a SQUID magnetometer between 2 and 300 K with magnetic
flux densities of up to 5 T. The nickel atoms do not carry magnetic mo
ments as is indicated by the Pauli paramagnetism of the lanthanum and
lutetium compounds. SmNiSb is van Vleck paramagnetic, while the others
show Curie-Weiss behaviour with magnetic ordering temperatures below
4 K. The magnetic moments correspond to those of the free Ln(3+) ions.