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Magnetic behaviour of layered Ag(II) fluorides

Nature Materials volume 5, pages 561–565 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Fluoride phases that contain the spin-1/2 4d 9 Ag(II) ion have recently been predicted to have interesting or unusual magnetochemistry, owing to their structural similarity to the 3d 9 Cu(II) cuprates and the covalence associated with this unusual oxidation state of silver. Here we present a comprehensive study of structure and magnetism in the layered Ag(II) fluoride Cs2AgF4, using magnetic susceptometry, inelastic neutron scattering techniques and both X-ray and neutron powder diffraction. We find that this material is well described as a two-dimensional ferromagnet, in sharp contrast to the high-TC cuprates and a previous report in the literature. Analyses of the structural data show that Cs2AgF4 is orbitally ordered at all temperatures of measurement. Therefore, we suggest that orbital ordering may be the origin of the ferromagnetism we observe in this material.

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Figure 1: Molar susceptibility measurements and hysteresis measurement for Cs2AgF4.
Figure 2: Inelastic neutron scattering data for Cs2AgF4.
Figure 3: Inelastic neutron scattering from Cs2AgF4 with Ei=50 meV.
Figure 4: Orbital ordering scenarios for Jahn–Teller active 3d9 and 4d9 layered perovskites.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank J. A. del Toro and the staff at the University of Liverpool for the use of their superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer, D. Scalapino, D. I. Khomskii and D. J. Singh for critical readings of the manuscript, and D. Argyriou for useful discussions. We would also like to thank W. Hayes for drawing our attention to relevant literature and S. Clarke for the use of a glove box. S.E.M. acknowledges support from the US National Science Foundation through award OISE-0404938. Financial support was also provided by the EU through the Human Potential Programme under IHP-ARI contract HPRI-CT-1999-00020, the Manuel Lujan Neutron Scattering Center, funded by the US Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, funded by the US Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36. J.F.C.T. acknowledges the financial support of the US National Science Foundation, through a CAREER award (Grant No. CHE 0349010), and the University of Tennessee through the Neutron Sciences Consortium.

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Author notes

  1. Michelle R. Dolgos

    Present address: Department of Chemistry, The Ohio State University, 100 W. 18th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio, 43210, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0QX, UK

    Sylvia E. McLain & Robert I. Bewley

  2. Department of Chemistry and Neutron Sciences Consortium, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37996, USA

    Sylvia E. McLain, Michelle R. Dolgos & John F. C. Turner

  3. Hahn-Meitner Institut, Glienicker Str. 100, Berlin, D-14109, Germany

    D. Alan Tennant

  4. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS, UK

    D. Alan Tennant

  5. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Neutron Sciences Consortium, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37996, USA

    Ted Barnes

  6. Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831, USA

    Ted Barnes

  7. LANSCE, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA

    Thomas Proffen

  8. Condensed Matter Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37831, USA

    Brian C. Sales

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Correspondence to John F. C. Turner or Ted Barnes.

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McLain, S., Dolgos, M., Tennant, D. et al. Magnetic behaviour of layered Ag(II) fluorides. Nature Mater 5, 561–565 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1670

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