Implications of bond disorder in a S =1 kagome lattice

Strong hydrogen bonds such as F···H···F offer new strategies to fabricate molecular architectures exhibiting novel structures and properties. Along these lines and, to potentially realize hydrogen-bond mediated superexchange interactions in a frustrated material, we synthesized [H 2 F] 2 [Ni 3 F 6 (Fpy) 12 ][SbF 6 ] 2 (Fpy = 3-fluoropyridine). It was found that positionally-disordered H 2 F + ions link neutral NiF 2 (Fpy) 4 moieties into a kagome lattice with perfect 3-fold rotational symmetry. Detailed magnetic investigations combined with density-functional theory (DFT) revealed weak antiferromagnetic interactions ( J ~ 0.4 K) and a large positive- D of 8.3 K with m s = 0 lying below m s = ±1. The observed weak magnetic coupling is attributed to bond-disorder of the H 2 F + ions which leads to disrupted Ni-F···H-F-H···F-Ni exchange pathways. Despite this result, we argue that networks such as this may be a way forward in designing tunable materials with varying degrees of frustration.