
University:
Jackson State University
Major:
Chemistry
Mentor(s):
Brent Melot
Faculty Sponsor(s):
Ram Seshadri
Faculty Sponsor's Department(s):
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Project Title:
MAGNETIC AND DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF Co1-XZnXCr2O4
Project Description:
ZnCr2O4 and CoCr2O4 are two well studied magnetic spinel complex oxide systems. The spinel
structure consists of the formula AB2O4. Both the A and B sites are coordinated by oxygen
with the A site being tetrahedral and the B site octahedral. CoCr2O4 has been found to exhibit
Neel ferrimagnetic characteristic along with commensurate, incommensurate, and non collinear
magnetic ordering [1]. Further studies of CoCr2O4 have been carried out to investigate the
spinel’s polar behavior. Research has also found magneto-dielectric anomalies exhibited by the
CoCr2O4 system. Anomalies such as long-range ferrimagnetic ordering below a Tc = 94K and
a phase transition at Ts = 27K, which was attributed to the beginning of long-range spiral
magnetic ordering, have also been discovered in this system [2]. Unlike its more magnetically
active counterpart, CoCr2O4, ZnCr2O4 is antiferromagentically frustrated. The non-magnetic
d10 Zn cation, which occupies the A site, accounts for this frustration. In this research we
examined changes or connections of the dielectric constant and magnetic properties of the
CoCr2O4 system with the addition of Zn to the spinel structure. Previous studies by our group
have revealed a shift from ferromagnetic and conical ground states to an antiferromagentically
frustrated system with the addition of Zn to the CoCr2O4 spinel. Solid solutions in the system
Co1-XZnXCr2O4 were prepared at X = 0.2, 0.4, 0.45, 0.5, 0.55, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 and the
effect on its magnetism and dielectric constant will be measured. Magneto-dielectric lattice
coupling anomalies are being studied to gain a better understanding of the system.
[1] Melot B et al 2009 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21 216007 (7pp) [2] Melot B Phys. Rev. B 74,
024413 (2006)