Polyoxometalates: From Magnetic Models to Multifunctional Materials

In this article we have presented some recent achievements of the polyoxometalates in the fields of molecular magnetism and functional molecular materials. In the context of the molecular magnetism we have shown that POMs provide ideal examples of magnetic clusters with coexisting ferro and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions which can be investigated using a variety of magnetic techniques, including the Inelastic Neutron Scattering spectroscopy, to get a thorough characterization of the magnetic levels in these large clusters, and to test the validity of the spin hamiltonians commonly used in magnetism.