RESUMEN
The magnetic phase diagram of Sr[Formula: see text]Ca[Formula: see text]Co[Formula: see text]P[Formula: see text] as a function of hydrostatic pressure and temperature is investigated by means of high pressure muon spin rotation, relaxation and resonance ([Formula: see text]SR). The weak pressure dependence for the [Formula: see text] compounds suggests that the rich phase diagram of Sr[Formula: see text]Ca[Formula: see text]Co[Formula: see text]P[Formula: see text] as a function of x at ambient pressure may not solely be attributed to chemical pressure effects. The [Formula: see text] compound on the other hand reveals a high pressure dependence, where the long range magnetic order is fully suppressed at [Formula: see text] kbar, which seem to be a first order transition. In addition, an intermediate phase consisting of magnetic domains is formed above [Formula: see text] kbar where they co-exist with a magnetically disordered state. These domains are likely to be ferromagnetic islands (FMI) and consist of an high- (FMI-[Formula: see text]) and low-temperature (FMI-[Formula: see text]) region, respectively, separated by a phase boundary at [Formula: see text] K. This kind of co-existence is unusual and is originating from a coupling between lattice and magnetic degrees of freedoms.
RESUMEN
The crystal structure and magnetic properties of the cubic spinel MgFeMnO4 were studied by using a series of in-house techniques along with large-scale neutron diffraction and muon spin rotation spectroscopy in the temperature range between 1.5 and 500 K. The detailed crystal structure is successfully refined by using a cubic spinel structure described by the space group Fd3Ì m. Cations within tetrahedral A and octahedral B sites of the spinel were found to be in a disordered state. The extracted fractional site occupancies confirm the presence of antisite defects, which are of importance for the electrochemical performance of MgFeMnO4 and related battery materials. Neutron diffraction and muon spin spectroscopy reveal a ferrimagnetic order below TC = 394.2 K, having a collinear spin arrangement with antiparallel spins at the A and B sites, respectively. Our findings provide new and improved understanding of the fundamental properties of the ferrispinel materials and of their potential applications within future spintronics and battery devices.
RESUMEN
In the quest for developing novel and efficient batteries, a great interest has been raised for sustainable K-based honeycomb layer oxide materials, both for their application in energy devices as well as for their fundamental material properties. A key issue in the realization of efficient batteries based on such compounds, is to understand the K-ion diffusion mechanism. However, investigation of potassium-ion (K[Formula: see text]) dynamics in materials using e.g. NMR and related techniques has so far been very challenging, due to its inherently weak nuclear magnetic moment, in contrast to other alkali ions such as lithium and sodium. Spin-polarised muons, having a high gyromagnetic ratio, make the muon spin rotation and relaxation ([Formula: see text]SR) technique ideal for probing ions dynamics in these types of energy materials. Here we present a study of the low-temperature magnetic properties as well as K[Formula: see text] dynamics in honeycomb layered oxide material [Formula: see text] using mainly the [Formula: see text]SR technique. Our low-temperature [Formula: see text]SR results together with complementary magnetic susceptibility measurements find an antiferromagnetic transition at [Formula: see text] K. Further [Formula: see text]SR studies performed at higher temperatures reveal that potassium ions (K[Formula: see text]) become mobile above 200 K and the activation energy for the diffusion process is obtained as [Formula: see text] meV. This is the first time that K[Formula: see text] dynamics in potassium-based battery materials has been measured using [Formula: see text]SR. Assisted by high-resolution neutron diffraction, the temperature dependence of the K-ion self diffusion constant is also extracted. Finally our results also reveal that K-ion diffusion occurs predominantly at the surface of the powder particles. This opens future possibilities for potentially improving ion diffusion as well as K-ion battery device performance using nano-structuring and surface coatings of the particles.
RESUMEN
The K2Cr8O16 compound belongs to a series of quasi-1D compounds with intriguing magnetic properties that are stabilized through a high-pressure synthesis technique. In this study, a muon spin rotation, relaxation and resonance (µ+SR) technique is used to investigate the pressure dependent magnetic properties up to 25 kbar. µ+SR allows for measurements in true zero applied field and hereby access the true intrinsic material properties. As a result, a refined temperature/pressure phase diagram is presented revealing a novel low temperature/high pressure (pC1 = 21 kbar) transition from a ferromagnetic insulating to a high-pressure antiferromagnetic insulator. Finally, the current study also indicates the possible presence of a quantum critical point at pC2 ~ 33 kbar where the magnetic order in K2Cr8O16 is expected to be fully suppressed even at T = 0 K.
