0000000000038607
AUTHOR
Oscar Montero
Fragmenting gadolinium: Mononuclear polyoxometalate-based magnetic coolers for ultra-low temperatures
The polyoxometalate clusters with formula [Gd(W 5O 18) 2] 9- and [Gd(P 5W 30O 110)] 12- each carry a single magnetic ion of gadolinium, which is the most widespread element among magnetic refrigerant materials. In an adiabatic demagnetization, the lowest attainable temperature is limited by the presence of magnetic interactions that bring about magnetic order below a critical temperature. We demonstrate that this limitation can be overcome by chemically engineering the molecules in such a way to effectively screen all magnetic interactions, suggesting their use as ultra-low-temperature coolers. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Mononuclear lanthanide single molecule magnets based on the polyoxometalates [Ln(W5O18)2]9- and [Ln(beta2-SiW11O39)2]13- (Ln(III) = Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb).
The first two families of polyoxometalate-based single-molecule magnets (SMMs) are reported here. Compounds of the general formula [Ln(W(5)O(18))(2)](9-) (Ln(III) = Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er) and [Ln(SiW(11)O(39))(2)](13-) (Ln(III) = Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb) have been magnetically characterized with static and dynamic measurements. Slow relaxation of the magnetization, typically associated with SMM-like behavior, was observed for [Ln(W(5)O(18))(2)](9-) (Ln(III) = Ho and Er) and [Ln(SiW(11)O(39))(2)](13-) (Ln(III) = Dy, Ho, Er, and Yb). Among them, only the [Er(W(5)O(18))(2)](9-) derivative exhibited such a behavior above 2 K with an energy barrier for the reversal of the magnetization of 55 K. …
Spin-lattice relaxation via quantum tunneling in anEr3+-polyoxometalate molecular magnet
We investigate the mechanism of spin-lattice relaxation of Er ions encapsulated in polyoxometalate clusters, which below 4 K can only reverse its spin via quantum tunneling processes. The temperature-independent rate −1 is, at zero field, ten orders of magnitude larger than the rates predicted for direct phonon-induced processes. In addition, we observe that −1 is suppressed by external magnetic bias and hyperfine interactions but enhanced by increasing the concentration of Er ions. The observed relaxation agrees with predictions for pure quantum tunneling, showing that this phenomenon drives the thermalization of electronic spins. A possible link between these two phenomena is discussed, i…