Synthesis and Rietveld refinement of the ternary skutterudite RuSb2Te

Abstract

The RuSb2Te compound has been synthesized and structurally characterized from powder X-ray diffraction data. RuSb2Te has the skutterudite structure, Im3 symmetry, unit-cell parameter a = 9.2665(1) Å, V = 795.70(1) Å3, Z = 8, and Dc = 7.88 g/cm3. The Sb and Te atoms randomly occupy the crystallographic 24g position; no indications of ordering of Te and Sb atoms have been detected.