The strongly correlated oxides with a honeycomb lattice have attracted vast attention due to their interesting magnetic behaviors and emergent quantum effects such as Majorana fermions generated from Kitaev spin liquid. High-quality single crystal samples with delicately controlled composition and strain are highly required in this area. In this work, honeycomb structure built by edge-sharing ${\mathrm{CoO}}_6$ octahedra is stabilized in ilmenite matrix by doping 4% Co into ${\mathrm{NaSbO}}_3$. By performing magnetic measurements and first principles calculations, it is suggested that honeycomb local motifs containing ${\mathrm{Co}}^{2+}$ $\left(3d^7\right)$ cobalt may exist in Co-doped ${\mathrm{NaSbO}}_3$ thin films, and exhibit ferromagnetic-like transition at ∼88 K. Meanwhile, the interlayer dipolar interaction may lead to antiferromagnetic coupling between the nearest layers. This work reveals the possibility to embed $3d^7$ honeycomb structure into an ilmenite matrix and provides a platform for future spin liquid exploration as well as quantum information technology.

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• Doping effects
• Electronic structure
• Magnetic thin films
• Strongly correlated systems
• Density functional theory
• Epitaxy
• Nuclear reaction analysis
• Rutherford back scattering spectroscopy
• Scanning transmission electron microscopy
• X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy