Abstract
Structural, electrical, magnetic, and specific heat measurements were carried out on ZnCr2Se4 single crystal and on nanocrystals obtained from the milling of this single crystal after 1, 3, and 5 h, whose crystallite sizes were 25.2, 2.5, and 2 nm, respectively. For this purpose, the high-energy ball-milling method was used. The above studies showed that all samples have a spinel structure, and are p-type semiconductors with less milling time and n-type with a higher one. In turn, the decrease in crystallite size caused a change in the magnetic order, from antiferromagnetic for bulk material and nanocrystals after 1 and 3 h of milling to spin-glass with the freezing temperature Tf = 20 K for the sample after 5 h of milling. The spin-glass behavior for this sample was derived from a broad peak of dc magnetic susceptibility, a splitting of the zero-field-cooling and field-cooling susceptibilities, and from the shift of Tf towards the higher frequency of the ac susceptibility curves. A spectacular result for this sample is also the lack of a peak on the specific heat curve, suggesting a disappearance of the structural transition that is observed for the bulk single crystal.
Highlights
The search for new materials for applications in thermoelectric devices is becoming more and more popular
A CuCr2 S4 spinel was obtained from pure elements Cu, Cr, and S by mechanical alloying (MA), whose crystallite size was on the order of 2.8 nm [15]
Structural, electrical, magnetic, and specific heat measurements showed that all samples had a spinel structure, were p-type semiconductors with less milling time, and n-type with a higher one
Summary
The search for new materials for applications in thermoelectric devices is becoming more and more popular. A CuCr2 S4 spinel was obtained from pure elements Cu, Cr, and S by mechanical alloying (MA), whose crystallite size was on the order of 2.8 nm [15]. This method showed that, instead of the classic metallic ferromagnet, we received an antiferromagnetic semiconductor with a spinel structure. Structural, magnetic, electronic transport, and specific heat studies were carried out on the single crystal and nanopowder samples. We expect these studies to show that obtaining nanoscale ZnCr2 Se4 crystallites will significantly change their physical properties
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