Magnetic materials articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular electron spins are promising qubit candidates, however physical implementation of quantum gates is challenging. Little et al. explore the implementation of two-qubit entangling gates between nitroxide spin centres by pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance, building on NMR quantum computing protocols.

    • Edmund J. Little
    • , Jacob Mrozek
    •  & Richard E. P. Winpenny
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Three decades of research in molecular nanomagnets have enabled the preparation of compounds displaying magnetic memory at liquid nitrogen temperature. Here, the authors provide an innovative framework for the design of molecular magnets based on data mining, and develop an interactive dashboard to visualize the dataset.

    • Yan Duan
    • , Lorena E. Rosaleny
    •  & Alejandro Gaita-Ariño
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ionic control of magnetism promises ultralow-field sensor, but current physical realizations of proton-based magneto-ionic sensor are limited due to the lack of effective solid-state sensing methods. Here, authors report magneto-ionics-based proton sensing under low working radiofrequency and magnetic fields.

    • Yong Hu
    • , Zipeng Guo
    •  & Shenqiang Ren
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving high conductivity in metal-organic solids can be challenging, due to the difficulty of obtaining a good overlap between the d-orbitals of the metal and the π-orbitals of the organic molecule. Here, the authors present two coordination solids, VCl2(pyrazine)2 and TiCl2(pyrazine)2, with remarkably different electrical conductivity. While the former is an insulator, the latter displays the highest conductivity of any octahedrally coordinated metal ions based metal-organic solid.

    • Panagiota Perlepe
    • , Itziar Oyarzabal
    •  & Rodolphe Clérac
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sensitive, biocompatible and stable contrast agents for MRI are in demand. Here, the authors combine gadolinium ions with amorphous calcium carbonate to make stable paramagnetic amorphous carbonate nanoclusters with high MRI contrast and significantly improved biocompatibility over commercial gadolinium-based agents.

    • Liang Dong
    • , Yun-Jun Xu
    •  & Shu-Hong Yu
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Machines capable of magnetically controllable shape morphing and locomotion have diverse promising applications. Here, authors propose a scalable fabrication strategy that transforms 2D magnetic sheets into 3D soft magneto-active machines with customized geometries by incorporating origami folding.

    • Shengzhu Yi
    • , Liu Wang
    •  & Lelun Jiang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Host-guest interactions can play a critical role in achieving switchable porous materials, but controlling them remains challenging. Here the authors report an atypical pore rearrangement in a magnetic 2D porous framework upon water adsorption; the structural transformation affects the magnetic properties of the material.

    • Jin-Peng Xue
    • , Yang Hu
    •  & Jun Tao
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oriented attachment is a non-classical growth mechanism of nanomaterials that can lead to tunable properties and functionalities. Here the authors show that the crystallographic alignment between magnetite mesocrystal building-blocks can be tuned by the surface ligands, influencing the resulting magnetic properties.

    • Bum Chul Park
    • , Min Jun Ko
    •  & Young Keun Kim
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light induced magnetization dynamics can be as fast as few tens of femtoseconds. Here, Zayko et al show ultrafast microscopy based on high-harmonic radiation for direct imaging of ultrafast phenomena and capture femtosecond spin dynamics at the nanoscale.

    • Sergey Zayko
    • , Ofer Kfir
    •  & Claus Ropers
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Compared to inorganic materials, the magnetoelectric coupling in macromolecules is still hidden. Here, the authors describe machine learning coupled with additive manufacturing to accelerate the discovery of multiferroic macromolecules with a proton-mediated magnetoelectric coupling effect.

    • Yong Hu
    • , Scott Broderick
    •  & Shenqiang Ren
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is known about how the orientation of coordinated water molecules affects the magnetic properties of single molecule magnets. Here the authors combine experimental data and theoretical calculations to study how the rotation of water molecules alters the magnetic anisotropy of a pyrazine-based cobalt(II) complex.

    • Sheng-Qun Su
    • , Shu-Qi Wu
    •  & Osamu Sato
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, authors demonstrate the ferromagnetic catalyst to facilitate spin polarization in water oxidation reaction. They find the ferromagnetic-exchange-like behaviour between the ferromagnetic catalyst and the adsorbed oxygen species.

    • Xiao Ren
    • , Tianze Wu
    •  & Zhichuan J. Xu
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Verwey transition in magnetite was reported 80 years ago but identifying the underlying mechanism has been difficult. Here the authors show that structural distortions associated with the Verwey transition emerge as local fluctuations at the Curie temperature, confirming their link with magnetic order.

    • Giuditta Perversi
    • , Elise Pachoud
    •  & J. Paul Attfield
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite significant development in selective crystallization of chiral compounds this method still lacks high efficiency. Here the authors describe an efficient enantiomer-selective magnetization strategy for quantitatively separating the crystals of conglomerates by using magnetic nano-splitters.

    • Xichong Ye
    • , Jiaxi Cui
    •  & Xinhua Wan
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dilanthanide complexes that possess radical bridges exhibit enhanced magnetic exchange coupling, affording molecular magnets with high blocking temperatures. Here, the authors explore a series of dilanthanide-encapsulated fullerenes where the radical bridge is taken to its limit and the role is played by a single unpaired electron.

    • Fupin Liu
    • , Georgios Velkos
    •  & Alexey A. Popov
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gas-sensing materials are of increasing societal importance, but the ability to differentiate between similarly sized gases remains highly challenging. Here the authors report on a porous ferrimagnet that distinguishes diamagnetic N2 and CO2 gases from paramagnetic O2 gas.

    • Wataru Kosaka
    • , Zhaoyuan Liu
    •  & Hitoshi Miyasaka
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin-crossover molecules offer a potential route towards molecular spintronics, but retaining the bistability of the spin state upon surface deposition is challenging. Here, the authors study the spin-crossover behaviours of an Fe(II) complex deposited on graphite, determining the scale limit at which cooperative spin switching becomes effective.

    • Lalminthang Kipgen
    • , Matthias Bernien
    •  & Wolfgang Kuch
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemotherapy agents are prone to producing severe side-effects, and their sequestration prior to their entering of the circulatory system is thus highly desirable. Here, the authors functionalize iron oxide nanoparticles with genomic DNA and achieve sequestration of doxorubicin, cisplatin, and epirubicin from biological solutions.

    • Carl M. Blumenfeld
    • , Michael D. Schulz
    •  & Robert H. Grubbs
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transition metal complexes that display slow magnetic relaxation show promise for information storage, but our mechanistic understanding of the magnetic relaxation of such compounds remains limited. Here, the authors spectroscopically and computationally characterize the strength of spin–phonon couplings, which play an important role in the relaxation process.

    • Duncan H. Moseley
    • , Shelby E. Stavretis
    •  & Zi-Ling Xue
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Suppression of quantum tunneling in molecular magnets is key for their magnetic behaviours to be exploitable. Here, the authors show that tuning the geometry of lanthanide single-ion magnets leads to a suppression of the quantum tunneling, finding a three-fold reduction of the tunnel splitting upon changing the crystal field symmetry.

    • Mikkel A. Sørensen
    • , Ursula B. Hansen
    •  & Jesper Bendix
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deposition of single molecule magnets onto surfaces is a key step for integration in devices exploiting their magnetic bistability and quantum properties. Here, Sessoli and colleagues exploit synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy to assess the effects of molecule-surface interactions on the magnetic properties of Fe(III) SMMs.

    • Alberto Cini
    • , Matteo Mannini
    •  & Roberta Sessoli
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-molecule magnets typically only retain information in the presence of an applied magnetic field and at very low temperatures. Here, Demir, Long and co-workers design N2 3– radical-bridged dilanthanide complexes that exhibit giant coercivities and 100-s magnetic blocking temperatures of up to 20 K.

    • Selvan Demir
    • , Miguel I. Gonzalez
    •  & Jeffrey R. Long
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coupling molecular toroids via ferrotoroidic interactions represents an important opportunity to enhance ground state toroidicity, but is challenging to achieve. Here the authors isolate a {CrIIIDyIII 6} complex with a ferrotoroidic ground state and an enhanced toroidal moment, arising solely from intramolecular dipolar interactions.

    • Kuduva R. Vignesh
    • , Alessandro Soncini
    •  & Gopalan Rajaraman
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimental studies of frustrated spin systems such as pyrochlore magnetic oxides test our understanding of quantum many-body physics. Here the authors show experimentally that Tb2Hf2O7 may be a model material for investigating how structural disorder can stabilize a quantum spin liquid phase.

    • Romain Sibille
    • , Elsa Lhotel
    •  & Michel Kenzelmann
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Perovskite manganites exhibit intriguing but poorly understood properties, including multiferroicity. Here, the authors synthesize a Ce3Mn8 cluster that structurally resembles a perovskite repeat unit, and use this molecular analogue to elucidate mechanisms driving bulk perovskite properties.

    • Annaliese E. Thuijs
    • , Xiang-Guo Li
    •  & George Christou
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single molecule magnets have demonstrated promise for information storage, molecular spintronics and quantum computing, but are limited by their low operational temperatures. Here, Popov and coworkers prepare a SMM with a high blocking temperature of 18 K by trapping two lanthanide ions with a single-electron bond inside a fullerene.

    • Fupin Liu
    • , Denis S. Krylov
    •  & Alexey A. Popov
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Blatter’s radicals are highly valuable stable organic free radicals, comprising a heterocyclic ring system functionalized with a heteroaryl or alkyl group at the C-3 position. Here, the authors report a synthetic strategy to obtain Blatter’s radical substituted with an amine and amide group.

    • Jacob A. Grant
    • , Zhou Lu
    •  & AnnMarie C. O’Donoghue
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The use of nanoscale sensors capable of detection of biological parameters is of great interest in diagnosis. Here, the authors use experimental and theoretical methods to develop a nanodiamond sensor with nitrogen vacancy defects for detection of pH and redox in a microfluidic device.

    • Torsten Rendler
    • , Jitka Neburkova
    •  & Jörg Wrachtrup
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developing room-temperature magnets from materials containing onlysporbitals has remained an elusive but important goal. Here, Zbořil and co-workers report hydroxofluorographenes that exhibit room-temperature antiferromagnetic ordering and low-temperature ferromagnetic behaviour with high magnetic moments.

    • Jiří Tuček
    • , Kateřina Holá
    •  & Radek Zbořil
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling the magnetic response of a molecular device is important for spintronic applications. Here the authors report the self-assembly, magnetic coupling, and anisotropy of two transition metal complexes bound to a ferrimagnetic surface, and probe the role of the nature of the transition metal ion.

    • Victoria E. Campbell
    • , Monica Tonelli
    •  & Talal Mallah
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Structural change at multiferroic phase boundary is anticipated to have an associated large magnetoelectric response, which yet awaits to be evidenced. Here, Fernández-Posada et al. report electric field-induced phase change for a BiFeO3–BiMnO3–PbTiO3solid solution with distinctive magnetic signature.

    • Carmen M. Fernández-Posada
    • , Alicia Castro
    •  & Harvey Amorín
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin ices are magnetic materials in which excitations equivalent to monopoles can occur. Using high-pressure techniques, Zhouet al. synthesize a new member of the spin ice family, Dy2Ge2O7, in which monopoles exist at higher densities, and can stabilize as dimers.

    • H.D. Zhou
    • , S.T. Bramwell
    •  & J.S. Gardner
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Signal processing by time reversal has thus far only been realized through nonlinear mechanisms. The authors describe an all-linear, and thus low-power, time-reversal process based on frequency inversion in a dynamically controlled artificial periodic structure, a dynamic magnonic crystal.

    • Andrii V. Chumak
    • , Vasil S. Tiberkevich
    •  & Burkard Hillebrands
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical systems with switchable molecular spins could allow the development of materials with controllable spintronic properties. Here, the authors show that nitric oxide coordination to cobalt(II)tetraphenylporphyrin on a nickel surface, followed by thermal dissociation, leads to off-on spin switching.

    • Christian Wäckerlin
    • , Dorota Chylarecka
    •  & Nirmalya Ballav