Magnetic order in single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6 with a honeycomb arrangement of 3 d7 Co2+ ions

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have synthesized single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6 and characterized the structure and magnetic order by measuring anisotropic magnetic properties, heat capacity, and x-ray and neutron single crystal diffraction. Magnetic properties and specific heat of polycrystalline Na3Co2SbO6 were also measured for comparison. Na3Co2SbO6 crystallizes in a monoclinic structure (space group C2/m) with [Co2SbO6]3- layers separated by Na+ ions. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility shows significant anisotropic behavior in the whole temperature range 2-350 K investigated in this work. An effective moment of about 5.5μB/Co2+ from a Curie-Weiss fitting of the magnetic susceptibility is larger than the spin only value and signals significant orbital contribution. Na3Co2SbO6 single crystal undergoes a transition into a long-range antiferromagnetically ordered state below TN=5K. Neutron single crystal diffraction confirmed the zigzag magnetic structure with a propagation vector k=(0.5,0.5,0). The ordered moment is found to be 0.9μB at 4 K and align along the crystallographic b axis. Density functional theory calculations suggest that the experimentally observed zigzag order is energetically competing with the Néel order. It is also found that the covalency between Co d and O p is quite strong and competes with the local spin-orbit coupling, suggesting a Jeff=1/2 ground state may not be realized in this compound.

Original languageEnglish
Article number074405
JournalPhysical Review Materials
Volume3
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 15 2019

Funding

The authors thank A. Banerjee, A. F. May, and B. C. Sales for discussions. Work at ORNL was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (J.-Q.Y., Q.Z., and M.A.M.) and by the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (SO). The x-ray and neutron single crystal diffraction work at ORNL was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy (Y.W. and H.B.C.). H.D.Z. acknowledges the support from NSF Grant No. DMR-1350002.

FundersFunder number
Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Basic Energy Sciences
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
Scientific User Facilities Division
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Magnetic order in single crystals of Na3Co2SbO6 with a honeycomb arrangement of 3 d7 Co2+ ions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this