Chiral Ruthenium Halide Semiconductor with Strong Antiferromagnetic Coupling

Abstract

Abstract Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides have attracted wide attention owing to their superior chiroptoelectronic and chirospintronic properties. Here, a new class of chiral lead‐free metal halides, ( R / S ‐MBA) 3 Ru 2 Br 9 (MBA = methylbenzylammonium), with unique magnetic properties is reported. ( R / S ‐MBA) 3 Ru 2 Br 9 is composed of a surface‐shared octahedron dimer separated by chiral cations and crystallizes into the Sohncke space group of P2 1 2 1 2 1 . The crystal structures, chiroptical, magnetic properties, and magnetic circular dichroism of ( R / S ‐MBA) 3 Ru 2 Br 9 are systematically investigated. Owing to the strong antiferromagnetic coupling between the Ru atom through bromine bridge in the [Ru 2 Br 9 ] 3− dimer and the weak ferromagnetic coupling between the neighboring [Ru 2 Br 9 ] 3− dimer, ( R / S ‐MBA) 3 Ru 2 Br 9 exhibits antiferromagnetic property with Néel temperature at 7 K. Considering the unique magnetic property of ruthenium, together with the rapid progress of antiferromagnetic spintronics and optospintronics recently, this work provides a novel multifunctional lead‐free chiral magnetic candidate toward chiral optoelectronics and antiferromagnetic spintronics.