On the nature of magnetic state in the spinel Co₂SnO₄

In the spinel Co2SnO4, coexistence of ferrimagnetic ordering below T(N) ≃ 41 K followed by a spin glass state below T(SG) ≃ 39 K was proposed recently based on the temperature dependence of magnetization M(T) data. Here new measurements of the temperature dependence of the specific heat C(P)(T), ac-susceptibilities χ'(T) and χ″(T) measured at frequencies between 0.51 and 1.2 kHz, and the hysteresis loop parameters (coercivity H(C)(T) and remanence M(R)(T)) in two differently prepared samples of Co2SnO4 are reported. The presence of the Co(2+) and Sn(4+) states is confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) yielding the structure: Co2SnO4 = [Co(2+)][Co(2+)Sn(4+)]O4. The data of C(P) versus T shows only an inflection near 39 K characteristic of spin-glass ordering. The analysis of the frequency dependence of ac-magnetic susceptibility data near 39 K using the Vogel-Fulcher law and the power-law of the critical slowing-down suggests the presence of spin clusters in the system which is close to a spin-glass state. With a decrease in temperature below 39 K, the temperature dependence of the coercivity H(C) and remanence M(R) for the zero-field cooled samples show both H(C) and M(R) reaching their peak magnitudes near 25 K, then decreasing with decreasing T and becoming negligible below 15 K. The plot of C(P)/T versus T also yields a weak inflection near 15 K. This temperature dependence of H(C) and remanence M(R) is likely associated with the different magnitudes of the magnetic moments of Co(2+) ions on the 'A' and 'B' sites and their different temperature dependence.