Heat capacity and other thermodynamic properties of CoTe2 from 5 to 1 030 K and of CoTe2.315 from 300 to 1 040 K

The heat capacity of orthorhombic (marcasite-type structure) cobalt ditelluride has been measured from 5 to 1 030 K by adiabatic-shield calorimetry with alternate energy inputs and equilibrations. Above 900 K a marked increase in heat capacity occurs which probably signals a change in the composition of the CoTe₂-phase towards higher tellurium content. Values at 298.15 and 1 000 K in J K^–1 mol^–1 of the heat capacity (C_p,m), entropy [S_m^°(T)–S_m^°(0)], andGibbs energy function – [G_m^°(T)–H_m^°(0)]T^–1 are 75.23, 114.5, 49.93, and 132.4, 216.2, 139.17, respectively. Consistent with the metallic behavior of CoTe₂, deviation of the heat capacity from theDebye T³-law was found at low temperatures. Comparison with the heat capacity of FeTe₂ shows aSchottky-like deviation with a maximum of 7.3 J K^–1 mol^–1 at 80 K and evidences the influence of the additional 3 d-electron in cobalt compared to iron. Heat capacity measurements were made on CoTe_2.33 to ascertain the existence range of the CoTe_2+x-phase and the entropy of the associated structural disorder.The portion of this research done at Ann Arbor was supported in part by the Structural Chemistry and Chemical Thermodynamics Program of the Division of Chemistry of the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CHE-7710049.