MULTISPIN - Molecular engineering of layered magnetic materials: towards multifunctional spintronic devices
MULTISPIN proposes to take advantage of the chemical programmability of (macro)molecules to engineer the physical and chemical properties of layered magnetic materials (LMMs), enabling the precise tuning of their magnetic properties and the demonstration of opto-spintronic devices with new functionalities.
Atomically thin layered magnetic materials (LMMs) constitute an ideal platform to study magnetism in reduced dimensions. One of the key features that distinguish LMMs from conventional bulk magnetic compounds is the tunability of their magnetic properties, which stems from their reduced dimensionality and the extremely high surface-to-volume ratio. So far, the magnetic response of LMMs has been significantly altered only by using conventional approaches such as electrostatic gating. Molecular functionalization, which is an extremely powerful method to tune the optoelectronic properties of non-magnetic 2D materials and to modify the magnetism of conventional metallic surfaces, has not yet been explored on LMMs.
MULTISPIN will make active use of specific capabilities offered by different classes of molecules, such as molecular dopants, ferroelectric polymers, photochromic molecules and organometallic compounds with a predictable spin configuration. By interfacing these systems to LMMs, MULTISPIN will provide decisive answers to four relevant questions:
- Can we improve the air stability and increase the Curie temperature of LMMs?
- Can we impart new functionalities to LMMs, including photo-responsivity and dynamically tunable exchange bias?
- Can we demonstrate multiresponsive spintronic devices based on LMMs with a tailored light response?
- Can we induce ferromagnetism in non-magnetic layered materials through molecular functionalization?
In answering these questions, MULTISPIN will unravel the fundamental interplay between structural, electronic and magnetic properties in LMMs, making it possible to develop new hybrid materials with dynamically tunable properties.
Our multidisciplinary team brings together world-leading groups with complementary skills and expertise, encompassing molecular and 2D spintronics, molecular functionalization of 2D materials, and first principle calculations. Our comprehensive multiscale experimental and theoretical approach will enable an unprecedented control over the LMM magnetic state, providing additional functionalities, which will be integrated in novel proof‐of‐principle devices. On the long term, the strategies and knowledge developed in MULTISPIN can have a real impact in technologically strategic applications in the IT sector such as data storage, embedded memories and computer logics, towards the next generation of smart computing.
This project is funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR.
