Magnetic, Optical, and Thermic Properties of SrLnCuSe3 (Ln = Dy, Ho, Er, Tm) Compounds

Abstract

SrLnCuSe3 (Ln = Dy, Ho, Er, Tm) compounds crystallize in the Pnma and Cmcm orthorhombic space group and belong to the Eu2CuS3 and KCuZrS3 structural type, respectively. According to a single-crystal XRD study, the SrTmCuSe3 unit cell parameters are a = 4.0631 (4), b = 13.4544 (14), c = 10.4430 (10) Å, and V = 570.88 (10) Å3. All the studied SrLnCuSe3 samples in the temperature range of 1.77–300 K demonstrate paramagnetic behavior without any features pointing to magnetic ordering. The measured Curie constants coincide with the values expected for Ln3+ ions with good accuracy, which confirms the stoichiometric composition of the samples and the non-magnetic state of the copper ions, Cu1+ (S = 0). The conducted optical absorption study showed that the polycrystalline SrLnCuSe3 (Ln = Dy, Ho, Er, Tm) samples are semiconductors with a direct bandgap ranging from 2.14 eV to 2.31 eV. Two indirect bandgaps were revealed and explained by the presence of optical transitions to highly dispersive subbands in the conduction band. The compounds demonstrate two reversible phase transitions α⇆β, β⇆γ and an incongruent melting at 1606 K (Dy), 1584 K (Ho), 1634 K (Er), and 1620 K (Tm) associated with the formation of solid solutions of SrSe, Cu2-XSe, and Ln2Se3 binary compounds.