Novel ternary intermetallics CePd3Al2 and LaPd3Al2

Two novel ternary rare-earth aluminides, CePd3Al2 and LaPd3Al2, were obtained by arc-melting the elements and subsequent annealing at 800 °C. Their crystal structures were determined from the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. The compounds crystallize with their own structure type: space group Pnma, Z = 4, Pearson symbol oP24, а = 7.491(2) Å, b = 4.3575(17) Å, ≿ = 13.123(4) Å for CePd3Al2 and а = 7.474(7) Å, b = 4.3755(17) Å, ≿ = 13.323(9) Å for LaPd3Al2. The physical behavior of the Ce-based material was studied by means of magnetic, electrical resistivity and heat capacity measurements carried out down to 0.4 K. The compound was characterized as an antiferromagnetic heavy-fermion system with the Néel temperature TN = 1 K and the Kondo energy scale of about 2 K.