Magnetic structure of 1D & 2D electrides by powder neutron diffraction

Materials in which electrons behave as anions are called electrides. Electrides can be likened to stoichiometric F-centre salts in which the electron concentration is high enough to allow them to interact with each other. As a result, these exotic materials exhibit physical properties represented by the metal-insulator transition. We propose to perform temperature-dependent PND experiments on a series of RE2C and RE5Si3 (RE = Y, Gd-Er) carbides and silicides, which have been successfully synthesised by arc-melting. Our aim is to validate the magnetic electride nature of our materials, and to study the presence/absence of defects and impurities such as adventitious O or H.