INTERCALATION OF METALS AND ALLOYS INTO GRAPHITE.

Several aspects of the binary metal graphite compounds are described, i. e. temperature and pressure conditions for the intercalation of pure metals into graphite, structures and stacking of the intercalated layers especially in the first stage compounds, polysynthetic nature of these compounds, and existence of metallic layers which are not epitaxied on graphite sheets. Two kinds of ternary compounds are described: (a) the solid solutions which contain simple metallic layers comparable to those of the corresponding binary compounds, and (b) the ternary compounds which contain multiple layers with different types of structures. The degree of organization of these compounds decreases in going from the G-Hg-M (M equals K, Rb) to the G-Ba-Na and to the G-Tl-M compounds. Several aspects of the stability, formation mechanisms, and electronic properties of the two kings of ternaries are discussed.