Materials Data on ErCo3 by Materials Project
ErCo3 crystallizes in the trigonal R-3m space group. The structure is three-dimensional. there are two inequivalent Er sites. In the first Er site, Er is bonded in a 12-coordinate geometry to twelve Co atoms. There are a spread of Er–Co bond distances ranging from 2.85–3.08 Å. In the second Er site, Er is bonded in a distorted hexagonal planar geometry to eighteen Co atoms. There are six shorter (2.86 Å) and twelve longer (3.17 Å) Er–Co bond lengths. There are three inequivalent Co sites. In the first Co site, Co is bonded to five Er and seven Co atoms to form a mixture of edge, face, and corner-sharing CoEr5Co7 cuboctahedra. There are a spread of Co–Co bond distances ranging from 2.41–2.52 Å. In the second Co site, Co is bonded in a 12-coordinate geometry to three equivalent Er and six equivalent Co atoms. In the third Co site, Co is bonded to six equivalent Er and six equivalent Co atoms to form CoEr6Co6 cuboctahedra that share corners with twelve equivalent CoEr5Co7 cuboctahedra, edges with six equivalent CoEr6Co6 cuboctahedra, and faces with eighteen equivalent CoEr5Co7 cuboctahedra.