High-pressure synthesis and structural characterization of the type II clathrate compound Na(30.5)Si(136) encapsulating two sodium atoms in the same silicon polyhedral cages.

Single crystals of sodium containing silicon clathrate compounds Na8Si46 (type I) and NaxSi136 (type II) were prepared from the mixtures of NaSi and Si under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions of 5 GPa at 600-1000 °C. The type II crystals were obtained at relatively low-temperature conditions of 700-800 °C, which were found to have a Na excess composition Na30.5Si136 in comparison with the compounds NaxSi136 (x ≤ 24) obtained by a thermal decomposition of NaSi under vacuum. The single crystal study revealed that the Na excess type II compound crystallizes in space group Fd3̅m with a lattice parameter of a = 14.796(1) Å, slightly larger than that of the ambient phase (Na24Si136), and the large silicon hexakaidecahedral cages (@Si28) are occupied by two sodium atoms disordered in the two 32e sites around the center of the @Si28 cages. At temperatures <90 K, the crystal symmetry of the compound changes from the face-centered to the primitive cell with space group P213, and the Na atoms in the @Si28 cages are aligned as Na2 pairs. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of Na30.5Si136 suggests that the two Na ions (2 Na(+)) in the cage are changed to a Na2 molecule. The Na atoms of Na30.5Si136 can be deintercalated from the cages topochemically by evacuation at elevated temperatures. The single crystal study of the deintercalated phases NaxSi136 (x = 25.5 and 5.5) revealed that only excess Na atoms have disordered arrangements.