Synthesis in liquid indium

Molten aluminium and gallium fluxes have shown themselves to be excellent routes to complex ternary and quaternary intermetallic phases such as R-T-Al and R-T-Al-Si, R-T-Al-Ge (when Al is used as solvent) or R-T-Ga, R-T-Si, R-T-Ga-Si, R-Ga-Ge (when Ga is used as solvent), where R = rare earth metal, T = transition metal. 

Indium also has many of the characteristics that make Al and Ga very useful for such applications. Particularly important is its capacity to dissolve Si, Ge and several lanthanide and transition metals, producing highly reactive forms of the elements. Moreover In does not form binaries with Si and Ge and has a low-melting point. RNiGe2 compounds, for instance, were prepared from stoichiometric quantities of the components in fine powder mixed with a 10 fold quantity of In in alumina tubes. These, flame sealed in fused silica tubes, were slowly heated to 1000°C, held at this temperature for a few hours, ramped down to 850°C, held for an additional 4 days and finally cooled down to room temperature over the course of another 4 days. Compound isolation from the In excess was performed by centrifugation at 300°C through a coarse frit. Further purification was carried out by a 15-minute submersion and sonication in 6 M aqueous HC1 (Salvador et al. 2004). 

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