  This work reports on the experimental investigation of the wide band gap
compounds LiMgZ (Z = P, As, Sb), which are promising candidates for
opto-electronics and anode materials for Lithium batteries. The compounds
crystallize in the cubic (C1_b) MgAgAs structure (space group F-43m). The
polycrystalline samples were synthesized by solid state reaction methods. X-ray
and neutron diffraction measurements show a homogeneous, single-phased samples.
The electronic properties were studied using the direct current (DC) method.
Additionally UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded in order to
investigate the band gap nature. The measurements show that all compounds
exhibit semiconducting behavior with direct band gaps of 1.0 eV to 2.3 eV
depending on the Z element. A decrease of the peak widths in the static 7Li
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra with increasing temperature was
observed, which can directly be related to an increase of Li ion mobility.
