Spin-glass behavior in Co-based antiperovskite compound SnNCo3
Chaocheng Liu, Xuyingnan Tao, Xucai Kan, Xiansong Liu, Chenghong Zhang, Shuangjiu Feng, Yujie Yang, Qingrong Lv, Jiyu Hu, Mudssir Shezad
Abstract
Spin-glass (SG) behavior is observed in the antiperovskite compound SnNCo3, which is confirmed by the relevant measurements and specific parameters [τ0 = 1.397 × 10−11 s, T0 = 2.705 K, zv = 6.857 for χ′(T)]. The typical relaxation behavior of isothermal remanent magnetization (MIRM) exhibits strong spin frustration in the system. The δM plots illustrate the strong exchange coupling and demagnetizing interaction around the freezing temperature (Tf). Besides, the density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the antiferromagnetic ground has lower energy than that of the ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic states. Our calculations exhibit that the electrons of Co-3d play a dominant role around the Fermi energy (EF), while Sn-5p and N-2p are mainly distributed from −8 eV to −5 eV and −5 eV to 5 eV, respectively. The interactions of Sn-Co and N-Co disclose the magnetic ground state and bond nature of the compound, which should be an evidential response to the SG behavior in SnNCo3.