Multiferroic Nanopatterned Hybrid Material with Room-Temperature Magnetic Switching of the Electric Polarization

Magnetic Properties of 2D Nanowire Arrays: Computer Simulations

The paper considers a nanowires 2D array located in the nodes of a square lattice. Computer simulations use the Heisenberg model and Metropolis algorithm. The array consists of small nanowires that are monodomain. The exchange interaction orders the spins within a single nanowire. Dipole-dipole forces act between neighboring nanowires. The shape of an individual nanowire affects its magnetic anisotropy. Computer simulations examine the phase transition temperature and magnetization behavior of the system. The type of magnetic moments ordering in the array of nanowires depends on the orientation of their long axis. We consider two types of systems. The nanowires' long axes are oriented perpendicular to the plane of their location in the first case. A dipole-dipole interaction results in first-type superantiferromagnetic ordering of the nanowires' magnetic moments for such orientation. The nanowires' long axes are oriented in the plane of the system in the second case. Dipole-dipole interaction results in second-type superantiferromagnetic ordering in such systems. The dependence of the phase transition temperature on the dipole-dipole interaction intensity is investigated.

Unidirectional Magnetic Anisotropy in Dense Vertically-Standing Arrays of Passivated Nickel Nanotubes

We report the facile and low-cost preparation as well as detailed characterization of dense arrays of passivated ferromagnetic nickel (Ni) nanotubes (NTs) vertically-supported onto solid Au-coated Si substrates. The proposed fabrication method relies on electrochemical synthesis within the nanopores of a supported anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template and allows for fine tuning of the NTs ferromagnetic walls just by changing the cathodic reduction potential during the nanostructures’ electrochemical growth. Subsequently, the experimental platform allowed further passivation of the Ni NTs with the formation of ultra-thin antiferromagnetic layers of nickel oxide (NiO). Using adequately adapted magnetic measurements, we afterwards demonstrated that the thickness of the NT walls and of the thin antiferromagneticNiO layer, strongly influences the magnetic behavior of the dense array of exchange-coupled Ni/NiO NTs. The specific magnetic properties of these hybrid ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic nanosystems were then correlated with the morpho-structural and geometrical parameters of the NTs, as well as ultimately strengthened by additionally-implemented micromagnetic simulations. The effect of the unidirectional anisotropy strongly amplified by the cylindrical geometry of the ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic interfaces has been investigated with the magnetic field applied both parallel and perpendicular to the NTs axis.

Magnetic Nanowires

Magnetic nanowires are attractive materials because of their morphology-dependent remarkable properties suitable for various advanced technologies in sensing, data storage, spintronics, biomedicine and microwave devices, etc. The recent advances in synthetic strategies and approaches for the fabrication of complex structures, such as parallel arrays and 3D networks of one-dimensional nanostructures, including nanowires, nanotubes, and multilayers, are presented. The simple template-assisted electrodeposition method enables the fabrication of different nanowire-based architectures with excellent control over geometrical features, morphology and chemical composition, leading to tunable magnetic, magneto-transport and thermoelectric properties. This review article summarizing the work carried out at UCLouvain focuses on the magnetic and spin-dependent transport properties linked to the material and geometrical characteristics.

Advances in magnetoelectric multiferroics

The manipulation of magnetic properties by an electric field in magnetoelectric multiferroic materials has driven significant research activity, with the goal of realizing their transformative technological potential. Here, we review progress in the fundamental understanding and design of new multiferroic materials, advances in characterization and modelling tools to describe them, and the exploration of devices and applications. Focusing on the translation of the many scientific breakthroughs into technological innovations, we identify the key open questions in the field where targeted research activities could have maximum impact in transitioning scientific discoveries into real applications.

[(18-Crown-6)K][Fe(1)Cl(1)4 ]0.5 [Fe(2)Cl(2)4 ]0.5 : A Multifunctional Molecular Switch of Dielectric, Conductivity and Magnetic Properties

Multifunctional materials that exhibit different physical properties in a single phase have potential for use in multifunctional devices. Herein, we reported an organic-inorganic hybrid compound [(18-crown-6)K][Fe(1)Cl(1)₄ ]_0.5 [Fe(2)Cl(2)₄ ]_0.5 (1) by incorporating KCl and FeCl₃ into a 18-crown-6 molecule, which acts as a host of the six O atoms providing a lone pair of electrons to anchor the guest potassium cation, and [FeCl₄ ]^- as a counterion for charge balance to construct a complex salt. This salt exhibited a one-step reversible structural transformation giving two separate high and low temperature phases at 373 K, which was confirmed by systematic characterizations including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements, variable-temperature structural analyses, and dielectric, impedance, variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements. Interestingly, the structural transformation was coupled to both hysteretic dielectric phase transition, conductivity switch and magnetic-phase transition at 373 K. This result gives an idea for designing a new type of phase-transition materials harboring technologically important magnetic, conductivity and dielectric properties.

Room-Temperature Magnetic Switching of the Electric Polarization in Ferroelectric Nanopillars

Magnetoelectric layers with a strong coupling between ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism offer attractive opportunities for the design of new device architectures such as dual-channel memory and multiresponsive sensors and actuators. However, materials in which a magnetic field can switch an electric polarization are extremely rare, work most often only at very low temperatures, and/or comprise complex materials difficult to integrate. Here, we show that magnetostriction and flexoelectricity can be harnessed to strongly couple electric polarization and magnetism in a regularly nanopatterned magnetic metal/ferroelectric polymer layer, to the point that full reversal of the electric polarization can occur at room temperature by the sole application of a magnetic field. Experiments supported by finite element simulations demonstrate that magnetostriction produces large strain gradients at the base of the ferroelectric nanopillars in the magnetoelectric hybrid layer, translating by flexoelectricity into equivalent electric fields larger than the coercive field of the ferroelectric polymer. Our study shows that flexoelectricity can be advantageously used to create a very strong magnetoelectric coupling in a nanopatterned hybrid layer.

Annealing effects on the magnetic properties of highly-packed vertically-aligned nickel nanotubes

Hysteresis loops showing the decrease of the saturation magnetic moment (left) through a dense array of vertically-aligned Ni nanotubes after their progressive thermal conversion into hybrid ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic Ni/NiO nanotubes (right).