DOE OSTI2020
Yb3Zn17 crystallizes in the cubic Im-3 space group. The structure is three-dimensional. Yb is bonded in a 3-coordinate geometry to sixteen Zn atoms. There are a spread of Yb–Zn bond distances ranging from 3.00–3.29 Å. There are six inequivalent Zn sites. In the first Zn site, Zn is bonded in a 9-coordinate geometry to three equivalent Yb and six Zn atoms. There are three shorter (2.68 Å) and three longer (2.70 Å) Zn–Zn bond lengths. In the second Zn site, Zn is bonded in a 10-coordinate geometry to three equivalent Yb and seven Zn atoms. There are a spread of Zn–Zn bond distances ranging from 2.70–2.76 Å. In the third Zn site, Zn is bonded in a distorted q6 geometry to three equivalent Yb and six Zn atoms. There are one shorter (2.60 Å) and one longer (2.79 Å) Zn–Zn bond lengths. In the fourth Zn site, Zn is bonded in a 11-coordinate geometry to two equivalent Yb and nine Zn atoms. There are a spread of Zn–Zn bond distances ranging from 2.57–3.02 Å. In the fifth Zn site, Zn is bonded to three equivalent Yb and nine Zn atoms to form a mixture of edge and face-sharing ZnYb3Zn9 cuboctahedra. There are a spread of Zn–Zn bond distances ranging from 2.54–2.72 Å. In the sixth Zn site, Zn is bonded to two equivalent Yb and ten Zn atoms to form distorted ZnYb2Zn10 cuboctahedra that share corners with four equivalent ZnYb2Zn10 cuboctahedra, an edgeedge with one ZnYb2Zn10 cuboctahedra, and faces with six equivalent ZnYb3Zn9 cuboctahedra.