Disorder-Induced Structural Complexity in the Barlowite Family of S = 1/2 Kagomé Magnets

Tustain, Katherine; McCabe, Emma E.; Arevalo-Lopez, Angel M.; Gibbs, Aledandra S.; Thompson, Stephen P.; Murray, Claire A.; Ritter, Clemens; Clark, Lucy

Abstract

We present a comprehensive structural and magnetic characterization of the barlowite family of S = 1/2 kagomé magnets, Cu4(OH)6FX, where X = Cl, Br, or I. Through high-resolution synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction measurements, we reveal two sources of structural complexity within this family of materials, namely, compositional disorder of the halide species that occupy sites in between the kagomé layers and the positional disorder of the interlayer Cu2+ ions that persists well into the Pnma structural ground state. We demonstrate that understanding these inherent structural disorders is key as they correlate with the degree of partial order in the magnetic ground states of these quantum frustrated magnets.

Citation

Tustain, K., McCabe, E. E., Arevalo-Lopez, A. M., Gibbs, A. S., Thompson, S. P., Murray, C. A., …Clark, L. (2021). Disorder-Induced Structural Complexity in the Barlowite Family of S = 1/2 Kagomé Magnets. Chemistry of Materials, 33(24), 9638-9651. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.1c03247

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 17, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Dec 9, 2021
• Publication Date: Dec 28, 2021
• Deposit Date: Nov 18, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 9, 2022
• Journal: Chemistry of Materials
• Print ISSN: 0897-4756
• Electronic ISSN: 1520-5002
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 24
• Pages: 9638-9651
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.1c03247
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1221528