Chakrabarti Sudipto, Vilan Ayelet, Deutch Gai, Oz Annabelle, Hod Oded, Peralta Juan E, Tal Oren
Department of Chemical and Biological Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 7610001, Israel.
School of Chemistry and The Sackler Center for Computational Molecular and Materials Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.
Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 15;13(1):4113. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31456-4.
When reducing the size of materials towards the nanoscale, magnetic properties can emerge due to structural variations. Here, we show the reverse effect, where the structure of nanomaterials is controlled by magnetic manipulations. Using the break-junction technique, we find that the interatomic distance in platinum atomic wires is shorter or longer by up to ∼20%, when a magnetic field is applied parallel or perpendicular to the wires during their formation, respectively. The magnetic field direction also affects the wire length, where longer (shorter) wires are formed under a parallel (perpendicular) field. Our experimental analysis, supported by calculations, indicates that the direction of the applied magnetic field promotes the formation of suspended atomic wires with a specific magnetization orientation associated with typical orbital characteristics, interatomic distance, and stability. A similar effect is found for various metal and metal-oxide atomic wires, demonstrating that magnetic fields can control the atomistic structure of different nanomaterials when applied during their formation stage.
当材料尺寸减小到纳米尺度时，由于结构变化可能会出现磁性。在此，我们展示了相反的效应，即纳米材料的结构由磁操控控制。使用断接技术，我们发现，在铂原子线形成过程中，当分别施加平行或垂直于线的磁场时，铂原子线中的原子间距离会缩短或延长多达约20%。磁场方向也会影响线的长度，在平行（垂直）磁场下会形成更长（更短）的线。我们的实验分析在计算的支持下表明，所施加磁场的方向促进了具有与典型轨道特征、原子间距离和稳定性相关的特定磁化取向的悬浮原子线的形成。在各种金属和金属氧化物原子线中也发现了类似的效应，这表明在形成阶段施加磁场时，磁场可以控制不同纳米材料的原子结构。
