Crystalline field effect and magnetic ordering in the heavy fermion Kondo lattice Ce6Pd12In5

Results of magnetic, specific heat, electric and thermal transport studies carried out on the novel hexagonal-type structure Ce6Pd12In5 compound, with a unique site for Ce, two sites for In and four sites for Pd are reported. The compound exhibits long-range order, probably of antiferromagnetic type, below T-N = 1.6 K in spite of a moment reducing Kondo effect acting on the magnetic Ce3+ ions. A strong influence of magnetic field on the low temperature dependencies of susceptibility, specific heat and electrical resistivity is observed. The crystal-electric field effect, CEF, plays an influential role in the ground state of this compound. The CEF parameters have been estimated. Based upon the low-temperature specific heat we observe heavy fermion behavior with the electronic specific heat coefficient that is enhanced to the value of gamma = 132 mJ/Ce-mol K-2. In the electrical resistivity, a logarithmic character rho(4f)(T) similar to -InT is observed that arises from incoherent Kondo scattering. Towards low temperature this behavior evolves into Kondo lattice formation with a coherence temperature T-coh similar or equal to 5.3 K, before long-range order takes place. We propose that Ce6Pd12In5 presents a new case study for competing Kondo and magnetic ordering in a high-symmetry lattice, with CEF and magnetocrystalline anisotropy further impacting upon the cooperative magnetic behavior. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.