DOE OSTI2020
LaTe2 crystallizes in the monoclinic Pm space group. The structure is three-dimensional. there are three inequivalent La3+ sites. In the first La3+ site, La3+ is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to nine Te+1.50- atoms. There are a spread of La–Te bond distances ranging from 3.29–3.54 Å. In the second La3+ site, La3+ is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to nine Te+1.50- atoms. There are a spread of La–Te bond distances ranging from 3.29–3.55 Å. In the third La3+ site, La3+ is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to nine Te+1.50- atoms. There are a spread of La–Te bond distances ranging from 3.34–3.45 Å. There are six inequivalent Te+1.50- sites. In the first Te+1.50- site, Te+1.50- is bonded in a 8-coordinate geometry to four La3+ and four Te+1.50- atoms. There are two shorter (3.05 Å) and two longer (3.48 Å) Te–Te bond lengths. In the second Te+1.50- site, Te+1.50- is bonded in a 4-coordinate geometry to four La3+ and four equivalent Te+1.50- atoms. In the third Te+1.50- site, Te+1.50- is bonded in a 4-coordinate geometry to four La3+ and four equivalent Te+1.50- atoms. In the fourth Te+1.50- site, Te+1.50- is bonded to five La3+ atoms to form a mixture of distorted corner and edge-sharing TeLa5 trigonal bipyramids. In the fifth Te+1.50- site, Te+1.50- is bonded to five La3+ atoms to form a mixture of distorted corner and edge-sharing TeLa5 trigonal bipyramids. In the sixth Te+1.50- site, Te+1.50- is bonded to five La3+ atoms to form a mixture of distorted corner and edge-sharing TeLa5 trigonal bipyramids.