LnCu₃(OH)₆Cl₃ (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy): Heavy lanthanides on spin-1/2 kagome magnets

The spin-1/2 kagome antiferromagnets are key prototype materials for studying frustrated magnetism. Three isostructural kagome antiferromagnets LnCu₃(OH)₆Cl₃ (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy) have been successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method. LnCu₃(OH)₆Cl₃ adopts space group P3m1 and features the layered Cu-kagome lattice with lanthanide Ln³⁺ cations sitting at the center of the hexagons. Although heavy lanthanides (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy) in LnCu₃(OH)₆Cl₃ provide a large effective magnetic moment and ferromagnetic-like spin correlations compared to light-lanthanides (Nd, Sm, Eu) analogues, Cu-kagome holds an antiferromagnetically ordered state at around 17 K like YCu₃(OH)₆Cl₃.