The antiferromagnetic phase transition in the layered Cu0.15Fe0.85PS3 semiconductor: experiment and DFT modelling

The experimental studies of the paramagnetic-antiferromagnetic phase transition through Mossbauer spec-troscopy and measurements of temperature and field dependencies of magnetic susceptibility in the layered Cu0.15Fe0.85PS3 crystal are presented. The peculiar behavior of the magnetization - field dependence at low -temperature region gives evidence of a weak ferromagnetism in the studied alloy. By the ab initio simulation of electronic and spin subsystems, in the framework of electron density functional theory, the peculiarities of spin ordering at low temperature as well as changes in interatomic interactions in the vicinity of the Cu substitutional atoms are analyzed. The calculated components of the electric field gradient tensor and asymmetry parameter for Fe ions are close to the ones found from Mossbauer spectra values. The Mulliken populations show that the main contribution to the ferromagnetic spin density is originated from 3d-copper and 3p-sulfur orbitals. The es-timated total magnetic moment of the unit cell (8.543 emu/mol) is in reasonable agreement with the measured experimental value of similar to 9 emu/mol.

Automated summary

The experimental studies of the paramagnetic-antiferromagnetic phase transition in the layered Cu0.15Fe0.85PS3 crystal are presented, utilizing Mossbauer spectroscopy and measurements of temperature and field dependencies of magnetic susceptibility. The observed peculiar behavior at low temperatures indicates weak ferromagnetism in the studied alloy. Ab initio simulations of the electronic and spin subsystems reveal the peculiarities of spin ordering at low temperatures and changes in interatomic interactions near the Cu substitutional atoms.