Nanomagnets retain magnetic properties at very low temperatures. Kasper Steen Pedersen, chemistry student at the University of Copenhagen, has determined that molecular nanomagnet made of ruthenium and osmium maintains magnetic characteristics even at elevated temperatures.
Heavier metals possess greater spin-orbit coupling and enhanced presence of diffuse electron cloud. His research has been recently released in the Chemistry journal.
Kasper Steen Pedersen has been researching on magnets derived from three dimensional metal ions from iron. Magnets with single molecule are secluded molecules acting like real magnets. However, they do not express three-dimensional attributes of a magnet. The requirement for very minimum temperature makes the nano magnets ineffective for any realistic applications and this made Pederson to develop an appropriate solution.
Pedersen has mentioned that both ruthenium and osmium occupies the same group of iron in the periodic table of the elements. He added that he combined this fact along with his knowledge regarding molecular iron magnets for developing magnets from these elements.
The chemical attributes of ruthenium and osmium are similar to iron. However, the physical characteristics of magnets, made of these metals appear to be different from iron magnets. Fundamentally, magnetic property arises from the spin of electrons and also from the electron’s movement around the nucleus. The contribution of the electron’s movement around the nucleus is huge for all heavy metals including ruthenium and osmium. This fact has been unnoticed by scientists but now it has been revealed experimentally by Pederson.
Pedersen utilized traditional metals for his magnets and the critical temperature was increased by a few Kelvin. He found that electron movement serves a major role in offering magnetic characteristics, thereby unveiling a new method of developing molecular nanomagnets with elevated critical temperatures.
Source: http://www.ku.dk