1. Unusual As–As and Sb–Sb Bonding in Thermoelectric Materials
H. Kleinke, Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
Many thermoelectric materials are based on tellurides or antimonides.
The antimonides all exhibit unusual Sb–Sb interactions, e.g. linear chains in
b-Zn4Sb3, linear Sb37– ions in Yb14MnSb11 or planar Sb4 rectangles in the filled skutterudites. In Mo3Sb5Te2, the squares are interconnected to form empty cubes, where the edges correspond to weak so-called half ("hypervalent"
one-electron) bonds.
Sb8 cubes in Mo3Sb5Te2
3.10 Å
2.91 Å
Our efforts afforded a new material, HfSb2–xTex, This structure contains a puckered Sb layer consisting of Sb6 rings in the chair conformation.
Sb layer in HfSb2–xTex
3.12 Å
2.83 Å