Sodium Layer Chiral Distribution and Spin Structure of Na2Ni2TeO6 with a Ni Honeycomb Lattice

Published

March 8, 2017

Author(s)

Sunil K. Karna, Yang Zhao, R. Sankar, M. Avdeev, P. C. Tseng, C. W. Wang, G. J. Shu, K. Matan, G. Y. Guo, F. C. Chou

Abstract

The crystal structure of P2-type Na₂Ni₂TeO₆ is best described as layers that are composed of Te-centered edge-sharing NiO₆ octahedra in honeycomb lattice with intercalated Na ions in the van der Waals (vdW) gaps. Although the crystal symmetry has been identified in the literature via inverse Fourier transform (iFT)-assisted neutron diffraction. The nuclear density distribution of Na ions reveals the hidden chirality symmetry within Na layers without breaking the original 3D crystal symmetry. The Na diffusion pathway described by the calculated iso-surface of Na ion bond valence sum (BVS) map is consistent to a chiral diffusion mechanism. The Na site occupancy and Ni²⁺ spin ordering were examined in detail with the electron density mapping, neutron diffraction, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Signatures of both strong incommensurate (ICM) and weak commensurate (CM) antiferromagnetic (AFM) spin ordering were identified in the polycrystalline sample studied, and the CM-AFM spin ordering was confirmed by using a single crystal sample through the k-scan in the momentum space corresponding to the AFM peak of (1/2, 0, 1).

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

95

Issue

10

Pub Type

Journals

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Citation

Karna, S. , Zhao, Y. , Sankar, R. , Avdeev, M. , Tseng, P. , Wang, C. , Shu, G. , Matan, K. , Guo, G. and Chou, F. (2017), Sodium Layer Chiral Distribution and Spin Structure of Na₂Ni₂TeO₆ with a Ni Honeycomb Lattice, Physical Review B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921571 (Accessed April 19, 2024)