Diversity in crystal structure and physical properties of RETX₃ (RE – rare earth, T – transition metal, X – main group element) intermetallics

Abstract

Rare Earth (RE) based intermetallics are a fascinating class of inorganic compounds due to the presence of highly localized f-electrons. Among the ternary intermetallics, RETX3 (RE – Rare Earth, T – Transition metals, X – 13–15th elements of the main groups) is one of the most widely studied RE-based intermetallic families in terms of diverse crystal structures as well as physical properties. This perspective presents a brief account of different structural variations observed in this family of compounds. We have also discussed structure-property correlations in selected compounds in this series that show interesting physical properties such as spin-glass behavior, superconductivity, heavy fermion behavior, Kondo behavior, etc. The origin of different physical properties of these compounds is also discussed in brief by correlating their crystal structures.