Unusual effects of anisotropic bonding in Cu(II) and Ni(II) oxides with K2NiF4 structure

Geometric constraints present in A₂BO₄ compounds with the tetragonal-T structure of K₂NiF₄ impose a strong pressure on the BO_IIB bonds and a stretching of the AO_IA bonds in the basal planes if the tolerance factor is $\text{t ?}\text{R}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>AO</mtext>}}\text{√2 R}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>BO</mtext>}}\text{< 1}$, where R_AO and R_BO are the sums of the AO and BO ionic radii. The tetragonal-T phase of La₂NiO₄ becomes monoclinic for Pr₂NiO₄, orthorhombic for La₂CuO₄, and tetragonal-T′ for Pr₂CuO₄. The atomic displacements in these distorted phases are discussed and rationalized in terms of the chemistry of the various compounds. The strong pressure on the BO_IIB bonds produces itinerant bands and a relative stabilization of localized d_z² orbitals. Magnetic susceptibility and transport data reveal an intersection of the Fermi energy with the d²_z² levels for half the copper ions in La₂CuO₄; this intersection is responsible for an intrinsic localized moment associated with a configuration fluctuation; below 200 K the localized moment smoothly vanishes with decreasing temperature as the d²_z² level becomes filled. In La₂NiO₄, the localized moments for half-filled d_z² orbitals induce strong correlations among the electrons above $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>d</mtext>}}\text{? 200}\text{K}$; at lower temperatures the electrons appear to contribute nothing to the magnetic susceptibility, which obeys a Curie-Weiss law giving a μ_eff corresponding to $\text{S =}\text{1}\text{2}$, but shows no magnetic order to lowest temperatures. These surprising results are verified by comparison with the mixed systems La₂Ni_1?xCu_xO₄ and La_2?2xSr_2xNi_1?xTi_xO₄. The onset of a charge-density wave below 200 K is proposed for both La₂CuO₄ and La₂NiO₄, but the atomic displacements would be short-range cooperative in mixed systems. The semiconductor-metallic transitions observed in several systems are found in many cases to obey the relation $\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>a</mtext>}}\text{? kT}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>min</mtext>}}$, where $\text{? = ?}{}_0\text{exp}\text{(}\text{?E}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>a</mtext>}}\text{kT}\text{)}$ and T_min is the temperature of minimum resistivity ?. This relation is interpreted in terms of a diffusive charge-carrier mobility with $\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>a</mtext>}}\text{? ΔH}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>m</mtext>}}\text{? kT}$ at T = T_min.