Combining intra- and intermolecular charge-transfer: a new strategy towards molecular ferromagnets and multiferroics

Organic ferroelectric materials are currently a hot research topic, with mixed stack charge transfer crystals playing a prominent role with their large, electronic-in-origin polarization and the possibility to tune the transition temperature down to the quantum limit and/or to drive the ferroelectric transition via an optical stimulus. By contrast, and in spite of an impressive research effort, organic ferromagnets are rare and characterized by very low transition temperatures. Coexisting magnetic and electric orders in multiferroics offer the possibility to control magnetic (electric) properties by an applied electric (magnetic) field with impressive technological potential. Only few examples of multiferroics are known today, based on inorganics materials. Here we demonstrate that, by decorating mixed stack charge transfer crystals with organic radicals, a new family of robust molecular ferromagnets can be designed, stable up to ambient temperature, and with a clear tendency towards multiferroic behaviour.