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Nature Research, Scientific Reports, 1(5), 2015

DOI: 10.1038/srep14475

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Magnetically-induced ferroelectricity in the (ND4)2[FeCl5(D2O)] molecular compound

Journal article published in 2015 by José Alberto Rodríguez-Velamazán, Jose Alberto Rodriguez-Velamazan, Oscar Fabelo, Angel Millan, Javier Campo ORCID, Roger D. Johnson, Laurent Chapon
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

AbstractThe number of magnetoelectric multiferroic materials reported to date is scarce, as magnetic structures that break inversion symmetry and induce an improper ferroelectric polarization typically arise through subtle competition between different magnetic interactions. The (NH4)2[FeCl5(H2O)] compound is a rare case where such improper ferroelectricity has been observed in a molecular material. We have used single crystal and powder neutron diffraction to obtain detailed solutions for the crystal and magnetic structures of (NH4)2[FeCl5(H2O)], from which we determined the mechanism of multiferroicity. From the crystal structure analysis, we observed an order-disorder phase transition related to the ordering of the ammonium counterion. We have determined the magnetic structure below TN, at 2 K and zero magnetic field, which corresponds to a cycloidal spin arrangement with magnetic moments contained in the ac-plane, propagating parallel to the c-axis. The observed ferroelectricity can be explained, from the obtained magnetic structure, via the inverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya mechanism.