Remarkable Rare-Earth Metal Silicide Oxides with Planar Si_6 Rings

摘要

Interest on the chemistry of metal-rich compounds has been immense due to their diverse cluster-based structures and novel chemical properties. Alkali metal (Rb, Cs) suboxides underscore the novelty of metal-clusters and metal-metal bonds, in having oxygen atoms enclosed within octahedra of metal atoms. The O-centered octahedra are further linked into discrete clusters. Similarly, these clusters are linked into chains and layers in mixed alkali/alkaline-earth metal suboxides. Metal-metal bonds and electronic delocalization dominate the chemical bonding of these suboxides.