Structural and magnetic properties of Nd₂NiGe₃

Abstract

Structural analysis of the room temperature diffraction data of Nd₂NiGe₃ shows that it exhibits AlB₂ type structure with space group P6/mmm. The crystal structure of Nd₂NiGe₃ consists of two dimensional Ni/Ge hexagonal units sandwiching the neodymium atoms between them. Temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility data follows Curie-Weiss law in the temperature range 20-300 K yielding an effective magnetic moment of 3.83 μ_B/Nd and paramagnetic Curie temperature -2.1 K indicating trivalent Nd and weak antiferromagnetic interactions, respectively. Low field magnetic susceptibility measurement show a weak antiferromagnetic like ordering around 3 K. Temperature dependent neutron diffraction measurements rules out long range antiferromagnetic ordering in this compound. The electrical resistivity measurement shows metallic nature of Nd₂NiGe₃, which exhibits sudden drop in resistivity below 3 K.