Crystal structures of compounds in the pseudobinary system Gd5Ge4-La5Ge4

Crystal structures of compounds at ambient temperature in the pseudobinary system Gd5Ge4-La5Ge4 were studied by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). There exist three single-phase regions in this system. The crystal structure of Gd5Ge4, La5Ge4 and Gd3La2Ge4, which are prototype compounds in three phase regions, respectively, were reported. The Gd5Ge4 and La5Ge4 crystallize in the orthorhombic Sm5Ge4-type structure with space group Pnma. The ternary intermediate compound Gd3La2Ge4, which is determined for the first time, crystallizes in the monoclinic Gd5Si2Ge2-type structure with space group P1121/a. The Rietveld powder diffraction profile fitting technique was used for the refinement of crystal structure. The lattice parameters, atomic occupations, interatomic distances of the Gd5Ge4, La5Ge4 and Gd3La2Ge4 compounds were derived