9704048 Zheng This research project entitled Experimental and Theoretical Study of Electron-Deficient Intermetallic Compounds focuses on the synthesis and characterization of this novel class of compounds. Since many of these compounds exhibit interesting physical properties such as superconductivity, unusual magnetic behavior, valence fluctuations and heavy fermion phenomena, and since the structure of these compounds often strongly influences these physical properties, studying their structure-property relationships will also be emphasized. Theoretical electronic structure calculations and computer simulations of the structural changes will be carried out. %%% Understanding the chemistry and physics of this class of solid state compounds has relevance for device fabrication at the molecular level, and investigating the degree to which solid state chemical synthesis can be applied to the fabrication of molecular electronic devices is of high technological interest. Some of these compounds have the capability of confining electrons in two-dimensional layers, similar to that of a superlattice. Others show the tendency of charge disproportionation, a mechanism being explored for the occurrence of superconductivity in the cuprate materials. Investigating the chemical and physical properties of these compounds is crucial to exploring new routes to material processing and fabrication, and new device applications. This focused research group project is funded by the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities of the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Solid State Chemistry and Polymers Program of the Division of Materials Research. ***
