Low-temperature heat capacity of triangle antiferromagnetic molecular clusters K12[(VO)3(SbW9O33)2]·15H2O and K12[(VO)3(BiW9O33)2]·29H2O

Energy level diagrams have been determined for two molecular clusters, K12[(VO)3(SbW9O33)2]·15H2O and K12[(VO)3(BiW9O33)2]·29H2O, by low-temperature heat capacity measurements down to 85 mK under magnetic field strengths up to 9 T. Both compounds exhibit a broad heat capacity peak dependent upon the magnetic field, which can be explained by the thermal excitation in the magnetic energy levels. A detailed analysis based on the numerical calculation reveals that the spin–spin interaction between the V4+ ions includes a Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction.

Graphical abstractTemperature dependence of heat capacity for K12[(VO)3(SbW9O33)2]·15H2O below 5 K. This is well described by the model with a doublet ground state.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide