Antiferromagnetism in a Family of S = 1 Square Lattice Coordination Polymers NiX2(pyz)2 (X = Cl, Br, I, NCS; pyz = Pyrazine).

The crystal structures of NiX2(pyz)2 (X = Cl (1), Br (2), I (3), and NCS (4)) were determined by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction. All four compounds consist of two-dimensional (2D) square arrays self-assembled from octahedral NiN4X2 units that are bridged by pyz ligands. The 2D layered motifs displayed by 1-4 are relevant to bifluoride-bridged [Ni(HF2)(pyz)2]EF6 (E = P, Sb), which also possess the same 2D layers. In contrast, terminal X ligands occupy axial positions in 1-4 and cause a staggered packing of adjacent layers. Long-range antiferromagnetic (AFM) order occurs below 1.5 (Cl), 1.9 (Br and NCS), and 2.5 K (I) as determined by heat capacity and muon-spin relaxation. The single-ion anisotropy and g factor of 2, 3, and 4 were measured by electron-spin resonance with no evidence for zero-field splitting (ZFS) being observed. The magnetism of 1-4 spans the spectrum from quasi-two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) antiferromagnetism. Nearly identical results and thermodynamic features were obtained for 2 and 4 as shown by pulsed-field magnetization, magnetic susceptibility, as well as their Néel temperatures. Magnetization curves for 2 and 4 calculated by quantum Monte Carlo simulation also show excellent agreement with the pulsed-field data. Compound 3 is characterized as a 3D AFM with the interlayer interaction (J⊥) being slightly stronger than the intralayer interaction along Ni-pyz-Ni segments (J(pyz)) within the two-dimensional [Ni(pyz)2](2+) square planes. Regardless of X, J(pyz) is similar for the four compounds and is roughly 1 K.

Soft chemical control of superconductivity in lithium iron selenide hydroxides Li(1-x)Fe(x)(OH)Fe(1-y)Se.

Hydrothermal synthesis is described of layered lithium iron selenide hydroxides Li(1-x)Fe(x)(OH)Fe(1-y)Se (x ∼ 0.2; 0.02 < y < 0.15) with a wide range of iron site vacancy concentrations in the iron selenide layers. This iron vacancy concentration is revealed as the only significant compositional variable and as the key parameter controlling the crystal structure and the electronic properties. Single crystal X-ray diffraction, neutron powder diffraction, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements are used to demonstrate that superconductivity at temperatures as high as 40 K is observed in the hydrothermally synthesized samples when the iron vacancy concentration is low (y < 0.05) and when the iron oxidation state is reduced slightly below +2, while samples with a higher vacancy concentration and a correspondingly higher iron oxidation state are not superconducting. The importance of combining a low iron oxidation state with a low vacancy concentration in the iron selenide layers is emphasized by the demonstration that reductive postsynthetic lithiation of the samples turns on superconductivity with critical temperatures exceeding 40 K by displacing iron atoms from the Li(1-x)Fe(x)(OH) reservoir layer to fill vacancies in the selenide layer.

Strontium vanadium oxide-hydrides: "square-planar" two-electron phases.

A series of strontium vanadium oxide-hydride phases prepared by utilizing a low-temperature synthesis strategy in which oxide ions in Sr(n+1)V(n)O(3n+1) (n=∞, 1, 2) phases are topochemically replaced by hydride ions to form SrVO2H, Sr2VO3H, and Sr3V2O5H2, respectively. These new phases contain sheets or chains of apex-linked V(3+)O4 squares stacked with SrH layers/chains, such that the n=∞ member, SrVO2H, can be considered to be analogous to "infinite-layer" phases, such as Sr(1-x)Ca(x)CuO2 (the parent phase of the high-T(c) cuprate superconductors), but with a d(2) electron count. All three oxide-hydride phases exhibit strong antiferromagnetic coupling, with SrVO2H exhibiting an antiferromagnetic ordering temperature, T(N)>300 K. The strong antiferromagnetic couplings are surprising given they appear to arise from π-type magnetic exchange.

Implications of bond disorder in a S=1 kagome lattice.

Strong hydrogen bonds such as F···H···F offer new strategies to fabricate molecular architectures exhibiting novel structures and properties. Along these lines and, to potentially realize hydrogen-bond mediated superexchange interactions in a frustrated material, we synthesized [H2F]2[Ni3F6(Fpy)12][SbF6]2 (Fpy = 3-fluoropyridine). It was found that positionally-disordered H2F+ ions link neutral NiF2(Fpy)4 moieties into a kagome lattice with perfect 3-fold rotational symmetry. Detailed magnetic investigations combined with density-functional theory (DFT) revealed weak antiferromagnetic interactions (J ~ 0.4 K) and a large positive-D of 8.3 K with ms = 0 lying below ms = ±1. The observed weak magnetic coupling is attributed to bond-disorder of the H2F+ ions which leads to disrupted Ni-F···H-F-H···F-Ni exchange pathways. Despite this result, we argue that networks such as this may be a way forward in designing tunable materials with varying degrees of frustration.