Significant role of local atomic displacements on the non-monotonic electronic transport in Sm-doped Sr2−xSmxIrO4 system. (July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dong, Peng; Wang, Xiangfu; Cheng, Jie; Yan, Xiaohong
• Is Part Of: Solid state communications. Volume 296(2019)
• Page Start: 21
• Page End: 25
• Publication Date: 2019-07
• Subjects: A. Sr2−xSmxIrO4 -- C. local atomic structure -- D. non-monotonic electronic transport -- E. x-ray absorption spectroscopy; Solid state chemistry -- Periodicals; Solid state physics -- Periodicals; Chimie de l'état solide -- Périodiques; Physique de l'état solide -- Périodiques; 530.41
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssc.2019.04.009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-1098

Abstract

Abstract: For the Sr2 IrO4 -based system, recent work pointed out the non-monotonic electronic transport property in Sm-doped Sr2−x Smx IrO4 compounds. In this contribution, x-ray absorption spectroscopy was applied to investigate the microscopic mechanism of the non-monotonic effect in terms of local atomic structure. Sm dopants can finely modulate the local atomic displacements of Sr2−x Smx IrO4, i.e. the in-plane IrO1Ir bond angle and the regularity of IrO6 octahedra. Upon Sm doping, the IrO1Ir bond angle θ increases monotonically. Interestingly, the IrO6 octahedra firstly become more regular with Sm doping, and then become more distorted, which is in line with the non-monotonic trend of electronic transport in Sr2−x Smx IrO4 . The present results suggest that the regularity of IrO6 octahedra rather than the in-plane IrO1Ir bond angle that dominates the non-monotonic electronic transport of Sr2−x Smx IrO4 system. Highlights: Sm-doping effect on the local structure of Sr2-xSmxIrO4 was studied by XAS. With Sm doping, the IrO1Ir bond angle θ increases monotonically. The IrO6 octahedra firstly become more regular with Sm doping, and then more distorted. The regularity of IrO6 octahedra rather than the IrO1Ir bond angle that contributes to the non-monotonic electronic transport of Sr2-xSmxIrO4 system.