Intermetallic compounds of rare earths

H.R. Kirchmayr and C.A. Poldy, Magnetic properties of intermetallic compounds of rare earth metals 55... 

The best catalyst for the synthesis of methanol from CO + H2 mixtures is copper/zinc oxide/alumina. Intermetallic compounds of rare earth and copper can be used as precursors for low-temperature methanol synthesis as first reported by Wallace et al. (1982) for RCu2 compounds (R = La, Ce, Pr, Ho and Th). The catalytic reaction was performed under 50 bar of CO + H2 at 300°C, and XRD analyses revealed the decomposition of the intermetallic into lanthanide oxide, 20-30 nm copper particles and copper oxide. Owen et al. (1987) compared the catalytic activity of RCux compounds, where R stands mainly for cerium in various amounts, but La, Pr, Nd, Gd, Dy and even Ti and Zr were also studied (table 4). The intermetallic compounds were inactive and activation involved oxidation of the alloys using the synthesis gas itself. It started at low pressures (a few bars) and low temperatures (from 353 K upwards). Methane was first produced, then methanol was formed and it is believed that the activation on, for example, CeCu2, involved the following reaction, as already proposed for ThCu2 (Baglin et al. 1981) ... 

Kirchmayr, H.R., and C.A. Poldy, 1979, Magnetic properties of intermetallic compounds of rare earth metals, in Handbook on the Physics and Chemistry of Rare Earths, Vol. 2, eds K.A. Gschneidner Jr andL. Eyring (North-Holland, Amsterdam) ch. 14, p. 55. 

Simultaneously, the synthesis of ammonia from the elements was also tested over RE-TM intermetallic compounds by the same group (42). Here, 36 intermetallic compounds of rare earth elements and the transition metals Fe, Co, and Ru were evaluated. In the case of the ammonia synthesis, the rare earth component is transformed to the corresponding nitride and the transition metal is finely divided thereon. Some of the compounds showed an even higher specific activity than commercial catalysts used at that time. Later, the catalysts based on the intermetallic compound CeNis-j Cox (x = 0-5) were oxidized in a controlled way prior to the catalytic characterization in the Fischer-Tropsch reaction (43). The reasons to oxidize the compound before use were twofold. On the one hand, the material can be handled in air afterwards, whereas the intermetallic compound itself is not stable in air. Second, the oxidation can be better controlled and reproduced if it is not performed in situ. A review on the early work on these catalysts is available by Wallace (44). 

The number of binary intermetallic compounds of rare earths for which the crystal structures have been determined is about 1800 and this number will increase in the future. In the early years of these studies the simplest structures were resolved and only the more complex structures await complete determinations. 

MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS OF RARE EARTH METALS... 

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