Spintronic Pathways in a Nonconjugated Radical Polymer Glass

Radical chemistries have attracted burgeoning attention due to their intriguing technological applications in organic electronics, optoelectronics, and magneto-responsive systems. However, the potential of these magnetically active glassy polymers to transport spin-selective currents has not been demonstrated. Here, the spin-transport characteristics of the radical polymer poly(4-glycidyloxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl) (PTEO) allow for sustained spin-selective currents when incorporated into typical device geometries with magnetically polarized electrodes. Annealing thin films of PTEO above its glass transition temperature results in a giant magnetoresistance effect (i.e., an MR of ≈80%) at 4 K. Additionally, ferromagnetic resonance spin-pumping results in a relatively large effective spin-mixing conductance of 1.18 × 10¹⁹ m^-2 at the NiFe/PTEO interface. Due to the large spin-density and radical-radical exchange interactions, there is effective propagation of pure spin currents through PTEO in the NiFe/PTEO/Pd multilayer devices. This results in the transport of spin current over long distances with a spin diffusion length of 90.4 nm. The spin diffusion length and spin mixing conductance values surpass those reported in inorganic and metallic systems and are comparable to conventional doped conjugated polymers. This is the first example of spin transport in a nonconjugated radical polymer, and these findings underscore the promising spin-transporting potential of radical polymers.