Iodine as an oxidant in the topotactic deintercalation of interstitial iron in Fe(1+x)Te.
The layered telluride, Fe(1+x)Te, is a parent compound of the isostructural and superconducting phases, Fe(1+x)(Te, Se, S). Here we show that, through a simple reaction of I(2) vapor with both powder and single crystal samples, the interstitial iron can be removed from the FeTe framework topotactically. Neutron powder diffraction and X-ray single crystal diffraction confirm that the iron being extracted is the partially occupied site that lies between the 2-D blocks of edge-sharing FeTe(4) tetrahedra. The deintercalation process has consequences for both magnetic and crystallographic phase transitions in the compound at low temperatures. This technique could be of use for the tuning of stoichiometry of the superconducting phases and therefore enable more careful studies on how chemical composition affects magnetic and superconducting properties.
Rodriguez
Efrain E
EE
NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA.
Zavalij
Peter
P
Hsieh
Ping-Yen
PY
Green
Mark A
MA