Issue 33, 2018

Li doped kagome spin liquid compounds

Abstract

Herbertsmithite and Zn-doped barlowite are two compounds for experimental realization of two-dimensional kagome spin liquids. Theoretically, it has been proposed that charge doping a quantum spin liquid gives rise to exotic metallic states, such as high-temperature superconductivity. However, one recent experiment on herbertsmithite with successful Li-doping surprisingly showed an insulating state even under a heavily doped scenario, which cannot be explained by previous theories. Using first-principles calculations, we performed a comprehensive study on the Li intercalation doping effect of these two compounds. For the Li-doped herbertsmithite, we identified the optimized Li position at the Cl–(OH)3–Cl pentahedron site instead of the previously speculated Cl–(OH)3 tetrahedral site. With increasing Li doping concentration, saturation magnetization decreases linearly due to charge transfer from Li to Cu ions. Moreover, we found that Li forms chemical bonds with nearby (OH) and Cl ions, which lowers the surrounding chemical potential and traps electrons, as evidenced by the localized charge distribution, explaining the insulating behavior measured experimentally. Though a different structure from herbertsmithite, Zn-doped barlowite shows the same features upon Li doping. We conclude that Li doping this family of kagome spin liquids cannot realize exotic metallic states, and other methods should be further explored, such as element substitution with those having different valence electrons.

Graphical abstract: Li doped kagome spin liquid compounds

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 May 2018
Accepted
31 Jul 2018
First published
31 Jul 2018

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018,20, 21693-21698

Author version available

Li doped kagome spin liquid compounds

W. Jiang, H. Huang, J. Mei and F. Liu, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 21693 DOI: 10.1039/C8CP03219J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements