Structural Characterization and Thermal Conductivity of Type-I Tin Clathrates

Abstract

Three tin compounds, Cs8Sn44, Cs8Ga8Sn38, and Cs8Zn4Sn42, representative of the type-I clathrate hydrate crystal structure are structurally characterized by temperature-dependent neutron powder diffraction, 87 K Sn-119 Mossbauer spectroscopy, and room-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction. These compounds form in cubic space group Pm3n with alkali-metal atoms residing in the polyhedral cavities formed by the tetrahedrally bonded network of Sn atoms. Of particular interest are the atomic displacement parameters (ADPs) exhibited by the alkali-metal atom inside the polyhedral “cages” formed by the framework Sn atoms. The “guest” Cs atoms inside the larger tetrakaidecahedra show a relatively large room-temperature ADP for Cs8Ga8Sn38 and Cs8Zn4Sn42; however, in the defect Cs8Sn44 compound this is not the case. This is due to two Sn vacancies in Cs8Sn44 which affect the local symmetry and Sn-Sn bonding. Temperature-dependent ADPs for the defect Cs8Sn44 compound are compared to those for Cs8Zn8Sn42. These data help elucidate the cause of the different lattice thermal conductivities of these two compounds.

Department(s)

Chemistry

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0897-4756

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2000 American Chemical Society (ACS), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2000

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