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Updated: Jul 8, 2025

Optimizing Magnetic Force Microscopy Resolution and Sensitivity to Visualize Nanoscale Magnetic Domains
Published on: July 20, 2022
A hard molecular nanomagnet from confined paramagnetic 3d-4f spins inside a fullerene cage
Chenli Huang1, Rong Sun2, Lipiao Bao3
1State Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1037, Luoyu Road, Wuhan, 430074, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Reducing inter-spin distance can enhance magnetic interactions and allow for the realization of outstanding magnetic properties. However, achieving reduced distances is technically challenging. Here, we construct a 3d-4f metal cluster (Dy2VN) inside a C80 cage, affording a heretofore unseen metallofullerene containing both paramagnetic 3d and 4f metal ions. The significantly suppressed 3d-4f (Dy-V) distances, due to the unique cage confinement effect, were observed by crystallographic and theoretical analysis of Dy2VN@Ih(7)-C80. These reduced distances result in an enhanced magnetic coupling (Jtotal, Dy-V = 53.30 cm-1; Jtotal, Dy-Dy = -6.25 cm-1), leading to a high magnetic blocking temperature compared to reported 3d-4f single-molecule magnets and strong coercive field of 2.73 Tesla. Our work presents a new class of single-molecule magnets with both paramagnetic 3d and 4f metals confined in a fullerene cage, offering superior and tunable magnetic properties due to the unique cage confinement effect and the diverse composition of the entrapped magnetic core.
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