Possible Defect Recovery in T’-Pr2-xCexCuO4 with x = 0.10 Nanoparticles Analyzed by Neutron Diffraction

We report the possible existence of defect recovery and the magnetic behavior in the T’-Pr2-xCexCuO4 (T’-PCCO) with x = 0.10 nanoparticles through the partially reduction annealing process. The powders of T’-PCCO nanoparticles were synthesized by using the chemically dissolved method followed by partially reduction annealing at 700 °C for 5 h in argon atmosphere. The high-resolution neutron powder diffraction (HRPD) technique has been employed to study the nuclear structure, vacancy, and the magnetic properties of the T’-PCCO nanoparticles. It is found that there is an increase of oxygen occupancy at the in-plane oxygen, O(1), and the apical oxygen, O(3), which signifies the decrease of the number of the vacancy on their sites. Meanwhile, the out plane oxygen, O(2), seems to be unchanged in the partially reduced samples. The Fourier difference profile shows an enhancement of the neutron scattering density at all the critical sites of O(1), O(3), and the Cu site. This may lead to the idea of the defect recovery affecting the whole magnetic moments which is responsible for the absence of weak ferromagnetism in the T’-PCCO nanoparticles.

The First Observation of Metallic Behaviour in Nd3.5Sm0.5Ni3O8

In Nd3.5Sm0.5Ni3O8which has basically the same crystal structure and the similar electrical configuration (Ni+3d9/Ni2+3d8mix valence state) with high-Tccuprate, it has been found that this material shows metallic behaviour down to about 20 K by intercalation and subsequent deintercalation with sulfur. This is the first observation of the metallic state in this system. It is unclear why sulfur-intercalation and deintercalation induce the metallic state. We speculate that sulfur works as an effective getter for removing the interstitial apical oxygen which impedes the metallic conduction. However, the weak localization of carriers in the NiO2planes still remains below 20 K and the localization may be one of the obstacles to occurrence of possible superconductivity.