Among various intermetallic compounds between 3d transition metal M (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and etc.) and pnictogen atom X (X = P, As, Sb, Bi), compounds expressed as MX and M2X have been of special interest due to their rich magnetic properties - from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism. Particularly, the MX type (Manganese pnictides) compounds of the hexagonal NiAs structure type display a wealth of magnetic properties; these class of materials are potential candidates for magneto-optical data storage and the structure modified compounds, viz., Heusler alloys, exhibit half-metallicity. In these compounds, only MnSb exhibits ferromagnetism at room temperature. In this talk, a brief overview about the effect of substitution (either at the Mn or Sb site) or adding other elements to MnSb (MnCoSb) on the magnetic properties will be presented.
Reference:
Motizuki K, Ido H, Itoh T, Morifuji M. Electronic Structure and magnetism of 3d – transition metal pnictides (Springer series in Materials Science).