Structure and magnetism of GdRuGe

The ternary germanide GdRuGe was synthesized from the elements by arc-melting and its structure was refined from single crystal X-ray diffractometer data: TiNiSi type, space group Pnma  , a=709.3(2)a=709.3(2), b=442.9(1)b=442.9(1), c=723.3(2)c=723.3(2) pm, wR2=0.0491wR2=0.0491, 547 F2F2 values, 20 variables. The ruthenium and germanium atoms build up a three-dimensional [RuGe] polyanionic network with strongly distorted, corner-sharing RuGe4/4 tetrahedra with Ru–Ge distances ranging from 252 to 260 pm. The gadolinium atoms fill voids with coordination number 16 within the [RuGe] network. GdRuGe orders ferromagnetically around 70 K and exhibits complete saturation of the Gd moments at 5 K in the isothermal magnetization measurements. The compound also exhibits a moderate magnetocaloric effect, ΔS=2J/molK (for ΔH=30kOe and T=TC=70K).