X‐Ray Single Crystal Refinement and Superconductivity of La₃Ni₂B₂N₃

Abstract

Abstract Crystalline samples of La 3 Ni 2 B 2 N 3 were synthesized using solid state metathesis reactions from combinations of La, LaCl 3 , NiCl 2 together with Li 3 BN 2 . The structure was determined by single crystal X‐ray diffraction (I4/mmm (No. 139), a = 372.95(2) pm, c = 2056.3(2) pm, R 1 = 0.027, wR 2 = 0.062) and confirmed earlier results from neutron powder diffraction. La 3 Ni 2 B 2 N 3 contains BN units capping square planar Ni layers. Isolated nitrogen atoms reside in La 6 octahedra. Magnetic measurements on several bulk samples exhibit superconductivity at temperatures below 14.6 K.