A hardmolecular nanomagnet from confined paramagnetic 3d-4f spins inside a fullerene cage
Chenli Huang#, Rong Sun#, Lipiao Bao*, Xinyue Tian, Changwang Pan, Mengyang Li, Wangqiang Shen, Kun Guo, Bingwu Wang*, Xing Lu* & Song Gao
Nature Communications, (2023) 14:8443
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44194-y
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.
