Investigations of novel ordered bulk and nano intermetallic compounds with diverse crystal structures and versatile physicochemical properties

Abstract

Intermetallics are compounds composed of two or more metallic elements or with optionally one or more semi-metallic elements that adopt a different crystal structure than their constituent elements. Intermetallics are also unique compared to the metals in terms of their bonding features. The bonding electrons are more delocalized in metals and distribute themselves throughout the material resulting in predominantly nondirectional bonding in the solid. On the other hand, the atomic bonding in intermetallic compounds is more directional, which means the electrons are more localized having slight ionic and covalent character. Based on some statistics, intermetallic compounds are divided in to three categories, which are (a) binary systems (AxBy) with around 20,000 members known,