Zhang Yi-Fan, Gui Ling-Ao, Peng Yan, Hu Zhao-Bo, Song You
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Crystalline Materials Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, China.
State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nangjing University, Nanjing, China.
Dalton Trans. 2025 Jan 13;54(3):881-888. doi: 10.1039/d4dt02876g.
Magnetoelectric (ME) coupling refers to the interaction between electric and magnetic orders in materials. Based on ME coupling, the phenomenon that an external magnetic field induces electric polarization and an external electric field induces change in mangetization can be observed and is referred to as the ME effect. Examples of the ME effect include magnetodielectric (MD), magnetoferroelectric (MF), magnetoresistence (MR) and electrically controlled magnetism effects. In recent years, the ME effect has attracted increasing attention due to the wide range of potential applications in fields such as information storage, sensors, and spintronics. The ME effect can be observed in both single-phase and composite systems but obtaining ME coupling in pure inorganic materials is extremely challenging. For example, in multiferroics with magnetism and electricity, the material must exhibit a magnetic ordered phase (ferromagnets or ferrimagnets), which coexists with the ferroelectric phase in the same temperature range. However, the materials containing both ordering phases within a single species are exceedingly rare, and those capable of coupling the two are even scarcer. MD materials are relatively easy to obtain because they are not constrained by polar point groups in their structure. With advancements in science and technology, new materials with potential ME coupling are increasingly being identified, particularly in the field of molecular materials. Molecular materials, due to their ease of design and synthesis, can not only achieve the regulation of magnetic field on polarization but also complete the control of electric field on magnetism. This paper briefly reviews recent research progress on the ME effect in molecular materials, focusing on three aspects: magnetodielectrics, magnetoferroelectrics, and electronically controlled magnetism. Typical complexes exhibiting the ME effects in these three categories are analyzed and summarized.
磁电（ME）耦合是指材料中电有序和磁有序之间的相互作用。基于磁电耦合，可以观察到外部磁场诱导电极化以及外部电场诱导磁化强度变化的现象，这被称为磁电效应。磁电效应的例子包括磁介电（MD）、磁铁电（MF）、磁电阻（MR）和电控磁性效应。近年来，由于磁电效应在信息存储、传感器和自旋电子学等领域具有广泛的潜在应用，因而受到越来越多的关注。磁电效应在单相和复合体系中均可观察到，但在纯无机材料中实现磁电耦合极具挑战性。例如，在兼具磁性和电性的多铁性材料中，材料必须呈现出磁有序相（铁磁体或亚铁磁体），且该相要在同一温度范围内与铁电相共存。然而，在单一物种中同时包含这两种有序相的材料极为罕见，而能够将二者耦合的材料更是稀少。磁介电材料相对容易获得，因为其结构不受极性点群的限制。随着科学技术的进步，越来越多具有潜在磁电耦合的新材料被发现，特别是在分子材料领域。分子材料因其易于设计和合成，不仅能够实现磁场对极化的调控，还能完成电场对磁性的控制。本文简要综述了分子材料中磁电效应的近期研究进展，重点关注三个方面：磁介电、磁铁电和电控磁性。对这三类中表现出磁电效应的典型配合物进行了分析和总结。
