A Polar Corundum Oxide Displaying Weak Ferromagnetism at Room Temperature

DOI: 10.1021/ja208395z

Authors: Man-rong Li (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Umut Adem (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Sean R. C. Mcmitchell (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Zhongling Xu (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Chris I. Thomas (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , John Warren (University of Liverpool; Daresbury) , Duong V. Giap (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Hongjun Niu (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Xinming Wan (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Robert G. Palgrave (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , Florian Schiffmann (Department of Chemistry, University College London, WC1H 0AJ, U.K.) , Furio Cora (Department of Chemistry, University College London, WC1H 0AJ, U.K.) , Ben Slater (Department of Chemistry, University College London, WC1H 0AJ, U.K.) , Tim L. Burnett (National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, U.K.) , Markys G. Cain (National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington TW11 0LW, U.K.) , Artem M. Abakumov (EMAT University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium) , Gustaaf Van Tendeloo (EMAT University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium) , Michael F. Thomas (Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZE, U.K.) , Matthew J. Rosseinsky (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.) , John B. Claridge (Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZD, U.K.)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Journal Of The American Chemical Society , VOL 134 (8) , PAGES 3737-3747

State: Published (Approved)
Published: February 2012

Abstract: Combining long-range magnetic order with polarity in the same structure is a prerequisite for the design of (magnetoelectric) multiferroic materials. There are now several demonstrated strategies to achieve this goal, but retaining magnetic order above room temperature remains a difficult target. Iron oxides in the +3 oxidation state have high magnetic ordering temperatures due to the size of the coupled moments. Here we prepare and characterize ScFeO3 (SFO), which under pressure and in strain-stabilized thin films adopts a polar variant of the corundum structure, one of the archetypal binary oxide structures. Polar corundum ScFeO3 has a weak ferromagnetic ground state below 356 K—this is in contrast to the purely antiferromagnetic ground state adopted by the well-studied ferroelectric BiFeO3.

Subject Areas: Chemistry


Instruments: I11-High Resolution Powder Diffraction