Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 25, 2025

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Two SiO44--Templated Ln23Ni20 Clusters with Magnetic Cooling and Stability
Ning-Fang Li1, Qin Wang1, Jia-Nian Li1
1College of Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210009, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Assembling and studying high-nuclearity 3d-4f metal clusters represent a pregnant and challenging research hotspot. Based on anionic template and ligand-controlled hydrolytic methods, two heterometallic metal clusters, formulated as [Gd23Ni20(DTA)20(CO3)4(CH3COO)6(SiO4)4(CH3CH2OH)2(μ3-OH)33(μ2-OH)4(H2O)16]·Cl2·30H2O and [Eu23Ni20(DTA)20(CO3)4(CH3COO)6(SiO4)4(CH3CH2OH)2(μ3-OH)33(μ2-OH)4(H2O)16]·Cl2·46H2O (abbreviated as GdNi, EuNi, H2DTA = thiodiglycolic acid), are successfully obtained, which both feature similar double-shell-shaped structures with a Ni building unit encapsulating a Ln aggregation. The structural analysis illustrates that the SiO44- anion, serving as the anionic template in this work, is reported for the second time in 3d-4f metal clusters. In terms of the magnetic properties, large amounts of Gd3+ and Ni2+ ions contribute to the MCE of compound GdNi, along with 38.15 J kg-1 K-1 at ΔH = 7.0 T for 2.0 K. It is worth mentioning that compound GdNi exhibits an excellent magnetic entropy change at low fields (-ΔSm = 19.10 J kg-1 K-1 at 2.0 K for ΔH = 2.0 T). In addition, GdNi exhibits preferable solvent and thermal stability.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Valence Bond Theory
Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human...
Ferromagnetism
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....

