Intermetallic compounds AB_5 type (A = rare-earth atoms, B = transition metal) are known to store reversibly large amounts of hydrogen and as that are discussed in this work. It was shown that the alloy cycling stability can be significantly improved by employing the so-called non-stoichiometric compounds AB_5+x and that is why analysis of change of structure turned out to be interesting. A tendency for ordering of hydrogen atoms is one of the most intriguing problems for the unsaturated hydrides. The symmetry analysis method in the frame of the theory of space group and their representation gives opportunity to find all possible transformations of the parent structure. In this work symmetry analysis method was applied for AB_5+x structure type (P6/mmm parent symmetry space group). There were investigated all possible ordering types and accompanying atom displacements in positions 1a, 2c, 3g (fully occupied in stoichiometric compounds AB_5), in positions 2e, 6l (where atom B could appear in non-stoichiometric compounds) and also 4h, 6m, 6k, 12n, 12o, which could be partly occupied by hydrogen as a result of hydrides. An analysis was carried out of all possible structures of lower symmetry, following from P6/mmm for we k=(0, 0, 0). Also the way of getting the structure described by the P6_3mc space group with double cell along the z-axiswe k=(0, 0, 0.5), as it is suggested in the work of Latroche et al. is discussed by the symmetry analysis. The analysis was obtained by computer program MODY. The program calculates the so-called basis vectors of irreducible representations of a given symmetry group, which can be used for calculation of possible ordering modes.
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