Synthesis and Electron Microscopy Study of the Quaternary Misfit Layer Chalcogenides {(Bi,Nd)S}CrS and {(Pb,Nd)Se}(NbSe).

In the present work, two compounds, in the Bi-Nd-Cr-S and Pb-Nd-Nb-Se systems, not reported to date were synthesized. The chemical composition and the structural determination of these complex compounds, at atomic resolution, was performed through conventional and aberration-corrected electron microscopy including selected area electron diffraction, high resolution (HR) transmission electron microscopy (TEM), HR scanning TEM, and the analytical associated techniques X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy. The average compositions are [(Bi,Nd)S]CrS and [(Pb,Nd)Se](NbSe), respectively.