Abstract
Na3Co2SbO6is a layered oxide with a hexagonal O3-type structure, in which CdI2-type edge-sharing MO6 octahedral layers are intercalated by Na. The MO6 octahedral layer in turn adopts a honeycomb ordering pattern of magnetic (S=3/2) Co2+ sites surrounding isolated non-magnetic Sb5+ sites. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that Na3Co2SbO6orders antiferromagnetically below TN=8.3K, with an effective magnetic moment of 5.22μB (indicating a strong orbital contribution above the expected spin-only value of 3.87μB). While a honeycomb arrangement of magnetic cations could, in principle, support a co-operative long-range-ordered magnetic structure in which all nearest neighbors are antiferromagnetic with respect to one another, symmetry analysis of low-temperature neutron powder diffraction data shows that it instead adopts a partially frustrated ‘zig-zag’ ordering in which 2/3 of nearest-neighbor interactions are ferromagnetic and 1/3 are antiferromagnetic. The low Néel temperature and Weiss constant of θ=2.2K underlines the presence of significant frustration of the expected strong superexchange interactions among Co2+.
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