Synthesis and crystal structure of PdSnTe

The compound with composition PdSnTe was prepared by heating of stoichiometric amount of Pd, Sn and Te in silica glass tube at 400 °C. Its crystal structure was refined by Rietveld method using conventional X-ray powder diffraction data. PdSnTe shows orthorhombic symmetry, space group Pbca with unit cell parameters a = 6.5687(2), b = 6.6028(2), c = 12.8849(4) Å, V = 558.8(1) Å3 and Z = 8. The title compound can be viewed as a ternary-ordered variant of α-NiAs2-type structure, it is isostructural with PtSiTe. Temperature dependence of electrical conductivity and Hall coefficient are presented, it suggests semimetallic or strongly degenerated semiconductor behaviour of the prepared compound.