Amorphous nonstoichiometric oxides with tunable room-temperature ferromagnetism and electrical transport

Material functionalities strongly depend on the stoichiometry, crystal structure, and homogeneity. Here we demonstrate an approach of amorphous nonstoichiometric inhomogeneous oxides to realize tunable ferromagnetism and electrical transport at room temperature. In order to verify the origin of the ferromagnetism, we employed a series of structural, chemical, and electronic state characterizations. Combined with electron microscopy and transport measurements, synchrotron-based grazing incident wide angle X-ray scattering, soft X-ray absorption and circular dichroism clearly reveal that the room-temperature ferromagnetism originates from the In_0.23Co_0.77O_1-v amorphous phase with a large tunable range of oxygen vacancies. The room-temperature ferromagnetism is tunable from a high saturation magnetization of 500 emu cm^-3 to below 25 emu cm^-3, with the evolving electrical resistivity from 5 × 10³ μΩ cm to above 2.5 × 10⁵ μΩ cm. Inhomogeneous nano-crystallization emerges with decreasing oxygen vacancies, driving the system towards non-ferromagnetism and insulating regime. Our work unfolds the novel functionalities of amorphous nonstoichiometric inhomogeneous oxides, which opens up new opportunities for developing spintronic materials with superior magnetic and transport properties.

Near-Edge Soft X-ray Absorption Mass Spectrometry of Protonated Melittin

We have investigated the photoionization and photofragmentation yields of gas-phase multiply protonated melittin cations for photon energies at the K-shell absorption edges of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Two similar experimental approaches were employed. In both experiments, mass selected [melittin+qH]^q+ (q=2-4) ions were accumulated in radiofrequency ion traps. The trap content was exposed to intense beams of monochromatic soft X-ray photons from synchrotron beamlines and photoproducts were analyzed by means of time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Mass spectra were recorded for fixed photon energies, and partial ion yield spectra were recorded as a function of photon energy. The combination of mass spectrometry and soft X-ray spectroscopy allows for a direct correlation of protein electronic structure with various photoionization channels. Non-dissociative single and double ionization are used as a reference. The contribution of both channels to various backbone scission channels is quantified and related to activation energies and protonation sites. Soft X-ray absorption mass spectrometry combines fast energy deposition with single and double ionization and could complement established activation techniques. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.