Spin-Orbit Coupling Controlled Ground State in the Ir(V) Perovskites A2ScIrO6 (A = Ba or Sr)

Paula Kayser; Brendan J Kennedy; Ben Ranjbar; Justin A Kimpton; Maxim Avdeev

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02848

Spin-Orbit Coupling Controlled Ground State in the Ir(V) Perovskites A₂ScIrO₆ (A = Ba or Sr)

Inorg Chem. 2017 Feb 20;56(4):2204-2209. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02848. Epub 2017 Jan 30.

Authors

Paula Kayser¹, Brendan J Kennedy¹, Ben Ranjbar¹, Justin A Kimpton², Maxim Avdeev³

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney , Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
² Australian Synchrotron , 800 Blackburn Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
³ Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization , Lucas Heights, New South Wales 2234, Australia.

PMID: 28135080
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02848

Abstract

The structural and magnetic properties of the two Ir(V) perovskites Ba₂ScIrO₆ and Sr₂ScIrO₆ were established. The structures were refined using a combined neutron and synchrotron data set. At room temperature the former has a cubic structure in space group Fm3̅m with a = 8.1450(3) Å, and the latter is monoclinic in P2₁/n with a = 5.6606(3) Å, b = 5.6366(3) Å, c = 7.9720(4) Å, and β = 89.977(5)°. Magnetization measurements show both oxides have magnetic moments close to zero as a consequence of strong spin-orbit coupling that results in a J_eff ≈ 0 ground state. The distortion of the IrO₆ octahedra in Sr₂ScIrO₆ is insufficient to generate crystal field splitting strong enough to quench the spin-orbit coupling.