A new ferromagnetic polymorph of CrSb2 synthesized under high pressure

A new ferromagnetic polymorph of CrSb2 was synthesized under high-pressure- temperature conditions. The crystal structure is body-centered tetragonal w ith the space group 14/mcm, namely the CuAl2-type structure. The experiment s under various pressure conditions revealed that the high-pressure polymor ph was formed above 5.5 GPa, and the compound crystallized into the low-pre ssure marcasite-type structure below 5 Gpa. The characteristic of the high- pressure phase is the metallic bond nature including the formation of Cr-Cr -Cr linear chain along the c-axis. The compound shows metallic conductivity and itinerant-electron ferromagnetic behavior with the Curie temperature o f 160 K. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.