Magnetic and thermodynamic properties of Ce23Ru7Mg4 compound

The magnetic susceptibility and heat capacity of the novel compound Ce23Ru7Mg4 have been studied above room temperature to low temperature range and in the applied magnetic field up to 7 T. This compound crystallizes with the hexagonal non-centrosymmetric Pr23Ir7Mg4-type structure, with space group P63mc. The structure is built up from complex three dimensional networks of edge and corner-sharing RE6Ru trigonal prisms. The magnetic susceptibility and specific heat both exhibit a distinct anomaly at about ~2 K which most probably suggests a paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition. The magnetic susceptibility revealed a magnetic moment μ eff = 2.24 μB/Ce which is close to the value for cerium in pure Ce metal (μeff = 2.54 μB), indicating a presence of well localized magnetic moments carried by the stable Ce ions but with significant deviation from full moment. The magnitude of the electronic specific heat coefficient γ = 127 mJ/Ce-mol K suggests correlated electron behavior in this compound.