Amalgams of less noble metals as model systems for polar intermetallic phases

极性金属间化合物是由电负性差异产生的电偶极子、磁偶极子或库仑偶极子与传导电子相互作用的金属化合物。它们是深入研究的主题，因为这种相互作用导致乍一看不可调和的性质的组合，例如在一种材料中的铁电性和金属导电性。随着越来越多的研究和首次应用，例如在现代数据存储设备中，极性金属间化合物相的影响得到了部分体现。有针对性地创造新的物业和新的物业组合所需的基本原则仍然没有被理解。研究合适的模型体系有助于系统地揭示极性金属间化合物相的相关结构性质关系。在过去的几年里，非贵金属的汞齐被证明是适合作为模型系统的，特别是这类金属间化合物中汞含量最高的成员。在这种情况下，经过充分研究的化合物的数量仍然太少，无法清楚地描述总体趋势和规律。因此，该项目涉及较少贵金属的新汞齐的合成以及结构和物理特征。新的二元金属，如铍汞齐，以及含有两种不同的较少贵金属的三元汞齐，应作为关于富汞汞齐的第一次系统研究的目标。通过测量电导率、磁化率以及热分析和热电行为，化学合成GAM规模的样品和用于结构鉴定的单晶是进行全面表征的基础。它们将与电子结构的量子化学计算和奈特位移的核磁共振光谱测定相结合。该项目旨在增加关于金属化合物中传导电子与内部偶极矩相互作用的知识，以便能够有目的地合成具有适用于新的电子材料和器件的各种性质组合的极性金属间化合物。我们的团队和我们的同事已经证明，通过对这一主题的一些初步研究，有能力顺利地开展这一项目。

Polar intermetallic phases are metallic compounds in which electric, magnetic or Coulombic dipoles from electronegativity differences are in interplay with the conduction electrons. They are the topic of intensive studies because this interplay leads to combinations of at the first glance irreconcilable properties, such as e.g. ferroelectricity and metallic conductivity in one material. The impact of polar intermetallic phases is porven by the increasing number of studies and first applications, e.g. in modern data storage devices. The underlying principles necessary for a targetted creation of new properties and new property combinations still aren't understood. Studying appropriate model systems may help a lot in systematically revealing the relevant structure property relations in polar intermetallic phases. Amalgams of the less noble metals have proven suitable as model systems over the last years, especially the mercury-richest members of this class of intermetallic compounds.The number of well-studied compunds in this fied still is too small as to give a clear picture over the general trends and rules. This project therefore deals with synthesis and structural and physical characterisation of new amalgams of less noble metals. New binaries, such as beryllium amalgams, as well as ternary amalgams with two different less noble metals shall be targetted in the first systematic study on Hg-rich amalgams. Chemical synthesis of gam-scaled samples and of single crystals for structural elucidation are the base for comprehensive characterisations by measurement of electric conductivity, susceptibility, as well as thermoanalytical and thermoelectrical behaviour. They will be combined with quantum-chemical calculations of the electronic structure and with NMR-spectroscopic determination of the Knight shift. This project is meant to increase knowledge on the interplay of conduction electrons with internal dipole moments in a metallic compound, in order to enable purposeful synthesis of polar intermetallic phases with combinations of properties suitable for application in new electronic materials and devices. Our group and our coworkers have shown with a number of preliminary studies on this topic to be capable of auspiciously conducting this project.