Abstract
This work describes the scandium doping effect on the structural and magnetic properties of delafossite-type oxides CuCr1 - xScxO2. The lattice parameters were found to vary according to Vegard’s low. A reflection broadening is observed, that is ascribed to local lattice distortion due to the ionic radius difference between Cr3+ and the non-magnetic dopants. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that the dominant interactions are antiferromagnetic (AFM) but that doping induces significant changes. The coupling between the local spins at the Cr sites and doped metal transition may enhance spin fluctuations at the Cr sites, which break the residual magnetic degeneracy as fluctuation-induced symmetry breaking in a highly magnetic degenerate ground state manifold of some frustrated systems.
Highlights
The family of layered oxides generally referred to as delafossites derive their name from the mineral CuFeO2 [1], with which their crystal structures are isotypic
Motivated by the relatively high electrical conductivities observed in some delafossite compounds [2,3,4,5], in particular observations [3,4] of ptype conductivity and relatively high optical transparency in CuAlO2 thin films, significant efforts in recent years have been focused on the usage of these materials in applications as transparent conductors [5]
According to the standard XRD patterns of CuCrO2 samples they are of single phase with delafossite structure, without any detectable secondary phase up to 20% Sc content
Summary
The family of layered oxides generally referred to as delafossites derive their name from the mineral CuFeO2 [1], with which their crystal structures are isotypic. Characterized by a wide range of possible compositions, the delafossite oxides exhibit significant richness in properties. Copper-scandium oxide (CSO) is a p-type transparent. CSO has the smallest Cu-Cu distance for which excess oxygen intercalation is possible between the layers of Cu [6,7]. CSO potentially has the highest p-type electrical conductivity in transparent Cu+based delafossites. Since ZnO is an n-type transparent conducting oxide with a hexagonal crystalline structure, transparent p-n heterojunctions with excellent interfaces can be fabricated with CSO (0 0 01)/ ZnO (0 0 01) epitaxial films. On the effect of Sc and (Sc + Mg) substitution on the structural and physical properties of delafossite-type CuCrO2 oxide [13]. The present study intends to study in detail the effect of the substitution of Sc3+ for Cr3+ in the widest possible substitution range on the structural, spectroscopic and magnetic properties of CuCr1−xScxO2 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4
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