CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF THE BINARY URANIUM TELLURIDE U2TE5

Single crystal X-ray studies of U2Te5 revealed that this compound crys tallizes in the monoclinic system with a = 34.42(2)Angstrom, b = 4.181 (1) Angstrom, c = 6.074(3) Angstrom, beta = 95.43(3)degrees. The cryst al structure was solved in the C2/m space group and refined to final v alues of reliability factors R(F)= 0.031 and R omega(F)= 0.038, corrob orating other recent results. The two crystallographically independent uranium atoms are coordinated to eight tellurium atoms in a bicapped trigonal prismatic geometry. The layered structure is built up from st acking along the a-direction of UTe2 slabs separated by Van der Waals gaps. Magnetic measurements reveal that U2Te5 exhibits paramagnetic be haviour down to 2K, and electrical resistivity measurements on a singl e crystal indicate semiconducting behaviour. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.