High-Pressure Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Semimetallic Properties of HgPbO3

The crystal structure of HgPbO3 was studied using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and powder synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The structure was well characterized as a centrosymmetric model with a space group of R-3m [hexagonal setting: a = 5.74413(6) angstrom and c = 7.25464(8) angstrom] rather than as a noncentrosymmetric model as was expected. It was found that Pb4+ is octahedrally coordinated by six oxygen atoms as usual, while Hg2+ is coordinated by three oxygen atoms in a planar manner, this being a very rare coordination of Hg in a solid-state material. The magnetic and electronic transport properties were investigated in terms of the magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, Hall coefficient, and specific heat capacity of polycrystalline HgPbO3. Although HgPbO3 has a carrier concentration (=7.3-8.5 X 10(20) cm(-3)) that is equal to that of metallic oxides, the very weak temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity (residual-resistivity ratio similar to 1.5), the significant diamagnetism (= 1.02 X 10(-4) emu mol(-1) at 300 K) that is in the same order of that of Bi powder and the remarkably small Sommerfeld coefficient [=1.6(1) X 10(-3) J mol(-1) K-2] implied that it is semimetallic in nature. HgPbO3 does not have a cage structure; nevertheless, at temperatures below approximately 50 K, it clearly exhibits phonon excitation of an anharmonic vibrational mode that is as significant as those of RbOs2O6. The mechanism of the anharmonic mode of the HgPbO3 has yet to be identified, however.