Neutron diffraction study on composite compound Nd2Co7

The crystallographic and the magnetic structures of the composite compound Nd₂Co₇ at 300 K are investigated by a combined refinement of X-ray diffraction data and high-resolution neutron diffraction data. The compound crystallizes into a hexagonal Ce₂Ni₇-type structure and consists of alternately stacking MgZn₂-type NdCo₂ and CaCu₅-type NdCo₅ structural blocks along the c axis. A magnetic structure model with the moments of all atoms aligning along the c axis provides a satisfactory fitting to the neutron diffraction data and coincides with the easy magnetization direction revealed by the X-ray diffraction experiments on magnetically pre-aligned fine particles. The refinement results show that the derived atomic moments of the Co atoms vary in a range of 0.7 μ_B-1.1 μ_B and the atomic moment of Nd in the NdCo₅ slab is close to the theoretical moment of a free trivalent Nd³⁺ ion, whereas the atomic moment of Nd in the NdCo₂ slab is much smaller than the theoretical value for a free Nd³⁺ ion. The remarkable difference in the atomic moment of Nd atoms between different structural slabs at room temperature is explained in terms of the magnetic characteristics of the NdCo₂ and NdCo₅ compounds and the local chemical environments of the Nd atoms in different structural slabs of the Nd₂Co₇ compound.