Abstract
Nanotubes and nanowires with both elemental1,2 (carbon or silicon) and multi-element3,4,5 compositions (such as compound semiconductors or oxides), and exhibiting electronic properties ranging from metallic to semiconducting, are being extensively investigated for use in device structures designed to control electron charge6,7,8. However, another important degree of freedom—electron spin, the control of which underlies the operation of ‘spintronic’ devices9—has been much less explored. This is probably due to the relative paucity of nanometre-scale ferromagnetic building blocks10 (in which electron spins are naturally aligned) from which spin-polarized electrons can be injected. Here we describe nanotubes of vanadium oxide (VOx), formed by controllable self-assembly11, that are ferromagnetic at room temperature. The as-formed nanotubes are transformed from spin-frustrated semiconductors to ferromagnets by doping with either electrons or holes, potentially offering a route to spin control12 in nanotube-based heterostructures13.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Iijima, S. Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon. Nature 354, 56–58 (1991)
Cui, Y. & Lieber, C. M. Functional nanoscale electronic devices assembled using silicon nanowire bulding blocks. Science 291, 851–853 (2001)
Tenne, R., Margulis, L., Genut, M. & Hodes, G. Polyhedral and cylindrical structures of tungsten disulphide. Nature 360, 444–446 (1992)
Rosenfeld-Hacohen, Y., Grunbaum, E., Tenne, R., Sloan, J. & Hutchison, J. L. Cage structures and nanotubes of NiCl2 . Nature 395, 336–337 (1998)
Remskar, M. et al. Self-assembly of subnanometer-diameter single-wall MoS2 nanotubes. Science 292, 479–481 (2001)
Dekker, C. Carbon nanotubes as molecular quantum wires. Phys. Today 52(5), 22–28 (1999)
Fuhrer, M. S. et al. Crossed nanotube junctions. Science 288, 494–497 (2000)
Derycke, V., Martel, R., Appenzeller, J. & Avouris, Ph. Carbon nanotube inter- and intramolecular logic gates. Nano Lett. 1, 453–456 (2001)
Wolf, S. A. et al. Spintronics: A spin-based electronics vision for the future. Science 294, 1488–1495 (2001)
Hueso, L. & Mathur, N. Dreams of a hollow future. Nature 427, 301–303 (2004)
Krumeich, F. et al. Morphology and topochemical reactions of novel vanadium oxide nanotubes. J. Am Chem. Soc. 121, 8324–8331 (1999)
Tsukagoshi, K., Alphenaar, B. W. & Ago, H. Coherent transport of electron spin in a ferromagnetically contacted carbon nanotube. Nature 401, 572–574 (1999)
Yao, Z., Postma, H. W. Ch., Balents, L. & Dekker, C. Carbon nanotube intramolecular junctions. Nature 402, 273–276 (1999)
Tokura, Y. & Nagaosa, N. Orbital physics in transition-metal oxides. Science 288, 462–468 (2000)
Imada, M., Fujimori, A. & Tokura, Y. Metal-insulator transitions. Rev. Mod. Phys. 70, 1039–1263 (1998)
Levy, P., Leyva, A. G., Troiani, H. E. & Sánchez, R. D. Nanotubes of rare-earth manganese oxides. Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 5247–5249 (2003)
Zavalij, P. Y. & Whittingham, M. S. Structural chemistry of vanadium oxides with open frameworks. Acta Cryst. B 55, 627–663 (1999)
Mott, N. F. Metal–Insulator Transitions (Taylor & Francis, London, 1974)
Kanada, M. et al. On the magnetic properties of systems with low dimensional linkage of VO5 pyramids. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn 67, 2904–2909 (1998)
Limelette, P. et al. Universality and critical behavior at the Mott transition. Science 302, 89–92 (2003)
Yamauchi, T., Ueda, Y. & Mori, N. Pressure-induced superconductivity in β–Na0.33V2O5 beyond charge ordering. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 057002 (2002)
Pickett, W. E. Impact of structure on magnetic coupling in CaV4O9 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 056402 (2004)
Korotin, M. A. et al. Exchange interactions and magnetic properties of the layered vanadates CaV2O5, MgV2O5, CaV3O7, and CaV4O9 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 1387–1390 (1999)
Lumsden, M. D., Sales, B. C., Mandrus, D., Nagler, S. E. & Thompson, J. R. Weak ferromagnetism and field-induced spin reorientation in K2V3O8 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 159–162 (2001)
Onoda, M. & Nishiguchi, N. Crystal structure and spin gap state of CaV2O5 . J. Solid-State Chem. 127, 359–362 (1996)
Dobley, A. et al. Manganese vanadium oxide nanotubes: synthesis, characterization, and electrochemistry. Chem. Mater. 13, 4382–4386 (2001)
Wang, X., Liu, L., Bontchev, R. & Jacobson, A. J. Electrochemical-hydrothermal synthesis and structure determination of a novel layered mixed-valence oxide: BaV7O16·nH2O. J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun. 1009–1010 (1998)
Bergström, Ö., Gustasson, T. & Thomas, J. O. Electrochemically lithiated vanadium oxide, Li2V6O13 . Acta Cryst. C 53, 528–530 (1997)
Bertotti, G. Hysteresis in Magnetism (Academic, London, 1998)
Cao, J. et al. Effect of sheet distance on the optical properties of vanadate nanotubes. Chem. Mater. 16, 731–736 (2004)
Acknowledgements
We thank A. Afzali, K.-S. Cho, C. R. Kagan, F. X. Redl and S. Sun for technical advice, C. A. Feild for chemistry insights, P. Y. Zavalij for his expertise in crystal structures, B. Spivak and A. M. Tsvelik for discussions, and R. Ludeke for his contributions. This work is supported in part by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Figure 1
Optical absorption spectrum of as-assembled VOx nanotubes: figure, figure caption and references (PDF 222 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Krusin-Elbaum, L., Newns, D., Zeng, H. et al. Room-temperature ferromagnetic nanotubes controlled by electron or hole doping. Nature 431, 672–676 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02970
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02970
This article is cited by
-
A Comprehensive Review on Synthesis, Phase Transition, and Applications of VO2
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2024)
-
Consequences of Particle Size and Magnetic Field on Magnetism and Electrical Transport in Nd0.50Ca0.50MnO3
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2023)
-
Study of Graphdiyne-based Magnetic Materials
Chemical Research in Chinese Universities (2021)
-
Change in the magnetic configurations of tubular nanostructures by tuning dipolar interactions
Scientific Reports (2018)
-
Theoretical Studies on Magnetic Structures, Hysteresis Loops and Size Effects of a Pair of Frustrated Double-Walled Nanotubes
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2018)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.