Multiferroic magnetoelectric materials, which simultaneously exhibit ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism, have recently stimulated a sharply increasing number of research activities for their scientific interest and significant technological promise in the novel multifunctional devices. Natural multiferroic single-phase compounds are rare, and their magnetoelectric responses are either relatively weak or occurs at temperatures too low for practical applications. In contrast, multiferroic composites, which incorporate both ferroelectric and ferri-/ferromagnetic phases, typically yield giant magnetoelectric coupling response above room temperature, which makes them ready for technological applications. This review of mostly recent activities begins with a brief summary of the historical perspective of the multiferroic magnetoelectric composites since its appearance in 1972. In such composites the magnetoelectric effect is generated as a product property of a magnetostrictive and a piezoelectric substance. A...

Multiferroic magnetoelectric composites: Historical perspective, status, and future directions

Advances in the development of novel cobalt Fischer-Tropsch catalysts for synthesis of long-chain hydrocarbons and clean fuels.

Multiferroic magnetoelectric composite systems such as ferromagnetic-ferroelectric heterostructures have recently attracted an ever-increasing interest and provoked a great number of research activities, driven by profound physics from coupling between ferroelectric and magnetic orders, as well as potential applications in novel multifunctional devices, such as sensors, transducers, memories, and spintronics. In this Review, we try to summarize what remarkable progress in multiferroic magnetoelectric composite systems has been achieved in most recent few years, with emphasis on thin films; and to describe unsolved issues and new device applications which can be controlled both electrically and magnetically.

Recent Progress in Multiferroic Magnetoelectric Composites: from Bulk to Thin Films

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiols and dialkanethiols on gold are key elements for building many systems and devices with applications in the wide field of nanotechnology. Despite the progress made in the knowledge of these fascinating two-dimensional molecular systems, there are still several “hot topics” that deserve special attention in order to understand and to control their physical and chemistry properties at the molecular level. This critical review focuses on some of these topics, including the nature of the molecule–gold interface, whose chemistry and structure remain elusive, the self-assembly process on planar and irregular surfaces, and on nanometre-sized objects, and the chemical reactivity and thermal stability of these systems in ambient and aqueous solutions, an issue which seriously limits their technological applications (375 references).

Self-assembled monolayers of thiols and dithiols on gold: new challenges for a well-known system

CeO2 is a catalytic material of exceptional technological importance, and the precise role of oxygen vacancies is crucial to the greater understanding of these oxide materials. In this work, two ceria nanorod samples with different types and distributions of oxygen vacancies were synthesized. A direct relationship between the concentration of the larger size oxygen vacancy clusters and the reducibility/reactivity of nanosized ceria was revealed. These results may be an important step in understanding and designing active sites at the surface of metal oxide catalytic materials.

Oxygen Vacancy Clusters Promoting Reducibility and Activity of Ceria Nanorods

Temperature variations of the electron magnetic resonance (EMR) spectra and magnetization measurements are used to show that Ce3+ ions in concentration ≃18% are present in 3 nm CeO2 nanoparticles supported on silica aerogel. It is argued that the presence of Ce3+ implies the defect structure CeO2-x for ceria nanoparticles due to oxygen vacancies. This transformation of Ce4+ to Ce3+ driven by oxygen vacancies may be the key to understanding the catalytic properties of ceria.

Concentration of Ce3+ and Oxygen Vacancies in Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles

The coexistence of the magnetic and the electrical properties in lanthanum (La)-modified bismuth ferrite (Bi1−xLaxFeO3, x=0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2) ceramics was studied and compared with those of bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3). The presence of a small secondary phase of BiFeO3 (arises due to excess Bi2O3) was removed on La substitution at the Bi site, as observed in x-ray diffraction (XRD). The effect of La substitution on dielectric constant, loss tangent, and remnant polarization of the samples was studied in a wide range of temperature (77–400K) and frequency (1kHz–1MHz). The variation of magnetization, coercive field, and exchange bias with temperature (2–300K) and La concentration were investigated. These changes in the magnetic parameters with La doping along with those of the electron magnetic resonance parameters measured at 300K and 9.28GHz are understood in terms of increase in the magnetic anisotropy and magnetization. These results also show that stabilization of crystal structure and nonuniformity ...

Structural and multiferroic properties of La-modified BiFeO3 ceramics

A comparative study of the magnetic and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameters of bulk and Co3O4 nanoparticles (NP), synthesized by a sol–gel process, is presented. Both samples possess the cubic phase with a slightly lower (by 0.34%) lattice parameter for the Co3O4 NP. The average crystallite size D = 17 nm determined by x-ray diffraction (XRD) for the Co3O4 NP is quite consistent with the electron microscopic observations. The bulk Co3O4 has particle size in the 1–2 µm range. A Neel temperature of TN = 30 K (lower than the 40 K usually quoted in the literature) is determined from the analysis of the magnetic susceptibility versus temperature data for bulk Co3O4. This TN = 30 K is in excellent agreement with the TN = 29.92 K reported from specific heat measurements. The Co3O4 NP powder exhibits a still lower TN = 26 K, possibly due to the associated finite size effects. The values of coercivity, Hc = 250 Oe, and exchange bias, He = −350 Oe, together with the training effect have been observed in the Co3O4 NP sample (cooled in 20 kOe). Both Hc and He approach zero as . For T>TN, the χ versus T data for both samples fit the modified Curie–Weiss law (χ = χ0+C/(T+θ)). The magnitudes of C, θ and TN are used to determine the following: exchange constants J1ex = 11.7 K, J2ex = 2.3 K, and magnetic moment per Co2+ ion μ = 4.27 μB for bulk Co3O4; and J1ex = 11.5 K, J2ex = 2.3 K and μ = 4.09 μB for Co3O4 NP. EPR yields a single Lorentzian line near g = 2.18 in both samples but with a linewidth ΔH that is larger for the Co3O4 NP. Details of the temperature dependence of ΔH, line intensity I0, and disappearance of the EPR on approach to TN are different for the two samples. These effects are discussed in terms of spin–phonon interaction and additional surface anisotropy present in Co3O4 NP.

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Prasanta Dutta

Papers

Concentration of Ce3+ and Oxygen Vacancies in Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles

Structural and multiferroic properties of La-modified BiFeO3 ceramics

A comparative study of the magnetic properties of bulk and nanocrystalline Co3O4

The dc and ac conductivity of polyaniline–polyvinyl alcohol blends

Dielectric relaxation in polyaniline–polyvinyl alcohol composites