Chemical Bonding Governs Complex Magnetism in MnPt5P

Published

January 14, 2021

Author(s)

Xin Gui, Ryan Klein, Craig Brown, Weiwei Xie

Abstract

Subtle changes in chemical bonds may result in dramatic revolutions in magnetic properties in solid state materials. MnPt₅P, a new derivative of the rare-earth-free ferromagnetic MnPt5As, was discovered and is presented in this work. MnPt₅P was synthesized and its crystal structure and chemical composition were characterized by X-ray diffraction as well as energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Accordingly, MnPt₅P crystallizes in the layered tetragonal structure with the space group P4/mmm (No. 123), in which the face-shared Mn@Pt₁₂ polyhedral layers are separated by P layers. In contrast to the ferromagnetism observed in MnPt₅As, the magnetic properties measurements on MnPt₅P show antiferromagnetic ordering occurs at 188 K with a strong magnetic anisotropy in and out of the ab-plane. Moreover, a spin-flop transition appears when a high magnetic field is applied. An A-type antiferromagnetic structure was obtained from the analysis of powder neutron diffraction (PND) patterns collected at 150 K and 9 K. Calculated electronic structures imply that hybridization of Mn-3d and Pt-5d orbitals are critical for both the structural stability and observed magnetic properties. Semi-empirical molecular orbitals calculations on both MnPt₅P and MnPt₅As indicate that the lack of 4p character on the P atoms at the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) in MnPt₅P may cause the different magnetic behavior in MnPt₅P compared to MnPt₅As. The discovery of MnPt5P, along with our previously reported MnPt₅As, parametrizes the end points of a tunable system to study the chemical bonding which tunes the magnetic ordering from ferromagnetism to antiferromagnetism with strong spinorbit coupling (SOC) effect.

Citation

Inorganic Chemistry

Volume

60

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

magnetism

Citation

Gui, X. , Klein, R. , Brown, C. and Xie, W. (2021), Chemical Bonding Governs Complex Magnetism in MnPt₅P, Inorganic Chemistry (Accessed April 20, 2024)