2024/07/26 by Ferrenti, Austin M., Drichko, Natalia, McQueen, Tyrel M.
#FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2407.18477
The hydrothermal synthesis of novel materials typically relies on both knowledge of the redox activities of all cations present in the reaction solution and a small toolset of so-called mineralizers to tune the solution's overall chemical potential. Upon the use of a less conventional mineralizer species, SiO2, we show the stabilization of spiroffite-type Co2Te3O8 under less forceful hydrothermal conditions than in previous reports. When synthesized in the presence of both SiO2 and each respective alkali carbonate as a secondary mineralizer, silicon substitution in place of tellurium in the host structure becomes apparent, and the corresponding introduced disorder gives rise to enhanced low-temperature ferromagnetism. Our results highlight the complexities of underutilized and combined mineralizer species in the stabilization and tuning of complex magnetic ground states via hydrothermal synthesis techniques.