New high temperature modification of CeTiGe: structural characterization and physical properties.

The new high temperature form (HT) of the ternary germanide CeTiGe was prepared by annealing at 1373 K. The investigation of HT-CeTiGe by x-ray powder diffraction shows that the compound crystallizes in the tetragonal CeScSi type structure (space group I4/mmm; a=414.95(2) and c=1590.85(10) pm as unit cell parameters). Electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power, magnetization and specific heat measurements performed down to 2 K on HT-CeTiGe reveal a non-magnetic strongly correlated electron system; the specific heat divided by temperature attains a value of 0.635 J mol(-1) K(-2) at 2 K. The comparison of the physical properties of the two crystallographic modifications of CeTiGe suggests a decrease of the hybridization J(cf) between 4f(Ce) and conduction electrons in the sequence LT-CeTiGe [Formula: see text]-CeTiGe (CeScSi type).