Sodium intercalation compounds of HfNCl have been prepared at room temperature in naphtyl sodium solutions in tetrahydrofuran and their crystal structure has been investigated by Rietveld refinement using X-ray powder diffraction data and high-resolution electron microscopy. The structure of two intercalates with space group R(3) over bar m and lattice parameters a = 3.58131(6) angstrom, c = 57.752(6) angstrom, and a = 3.58791(8) angstrom, c = 29.6785(17) angstrom is reported, corresponding to the stages 2 and 1, respectively, of NaxHfNCl. For the stage 2 phase an ordered model is presented, showing two crystallographically independent [HfNCl] units with an alternation of the Hf-Hf interlayer distance along the c-axis, according with the occupation by sodium atoms of one out of two van der Waals gaps. Both stages I and 2 phases are superconducting with critical temperatures between 20 and 24 K, they coexist in different samples with proportions depending on the synthesis conditions, and show a variation in c spacing that can be correlated with the sodium stoichiometry. High-resolution electron microscopy images of the host and intercalated samples show bending of the HfNCl bilayers as well as stacking faults in some regions, which coexist in the same crystal with ordered domains. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.