Synthesis and Characterization of Sodium Iron Antimonate Na2FeSbO5 One-Dimensional Antiferromagnetic Chain Compound with a Spin Glass Ground State

TL;DR

This study synthesizes and characterizes sodium iron antimonate, revealing a one-dimensional antiferromagnetic chain with a spin-glass ground state, demonstrated through comprehensive experimental and theoretical magnetic analyses.

Contribution

It introduces a new sodium iron antimonate compound with detailed structural and magnetic characterization, highlighting its unique spin-glass behavior and complex magnetic dynamics.

Findings

No long-range magnetic order down to 2 K

Spin-glass behavior with two-step freezing at 80 K and 35 K

Evidence of short-range correlations and spin-cluster ground state

Abstract

A new oxide, sodium iron antimonate, Na2FeSbO5, was synthesized and structurally characterized, and its static and dynamic magnetic properties were comprehensively studied both experimentally by dc and ac magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat, electron spin resonance (ESR) and Moessbauer measurements, and theoretically by density functional calculations. The resulting single-crystal structure (a = 15.6991(9) A; b = 5.3323 (4) A; c = 10.8875(6) A; S.G. Pbna) consists of edge-shared SbO6 octahedral chains, which alternate with vertex-linked, magnetically active FeO4 tetrahedral chains. The 57Fe Moessbauer spectra confirmed the presence of high-spin Fe3+ (3d5) ions in a distorted tetrahedral oxygen coordination. The magnetic susceptibility and specific heat data show the absence of a long-range magnetic ordering in Na2FeSbO5 down to 2 K, but ac magnetic susceptibility unambigously demonstrates spin-glass-type behavior with a unique two-step freezing at Tf1 about 80 K and Tf2 about 35 K. Magnetic hyperfine splitting of 57Fe Moessbauer spectra was observed below T* about 104 K (Tf1 < T*). The spectra just below T* (Tf1 < T < T*) exhibit a relaxation behavior caused by critical spin fluctuations, indicating the existence of short-range correlations. The stochastic model of ionic spin relaxation was used to account for the shape of the Moessbauer spectra below the freezing temperature. A complex slow dynamics is further supported by ESR data revealing two different absorption modes presumably related to ordered and disordered segments of spin chains. The data imply a spin-cluster ground state for Na2FeSbO5.