Projects / Programmes
Surface-selective hybridization technology for magneto-electric hybrids
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 2.04.01 |
Engineering sciences and technologies |
Materials science and technology |
Inorganic nonmetallic materials |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 2.10 |
Engineering and Technology |
Nano-technology |
hybrids, magneto-electric, surface-selective reactions, nanoplatelets, Janus nanoparticles, surface hybridization technology, reactions on solid surfaces
Researchers (12)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Our ambition is to develop a new surface-selective hybridization technology for the fabrication of a new magneto-electric (ME) material – a material that does not exist right now, but will enable contactless remote generation and conversion of electric energy and, waste-energy harvesting, magnetometers and electric-field sensors for smart-grid and transportations-systems, large-sensitive-area force sensors, and wireless signal-transmission systems in industrial and service robotics. Until recently, a homogeneous ferroic order was considered specific to solid materials. However, our recent discovery of ferromagnetic liquids overturned the established paradigm. Based on this, we propose a new class of materials, a ME liquid. The basic ingredient of our ME liquid will be ME nanoplatelets (NPLs). The ME-NPLs will be made of core magnetic NPLs, hybridized with electrically polar organics only on one of the two basal planes. For their fabrication, we will develop a new hybridization technology that will enable surface selectivity by magnetic or/and chemical immobilization of magnetic NPLs on a solid substrate. The hybridization with polar organics will take place only on the exposed surfaces. Finally, the ME-NPLs will be electrically isolated with a nonpolar ending. New multilevel synthesis of organics will be developed to tackle the complexity of the needed surface reactions. The harvested ME-NPLs will be dispersed in a nonpolar solvent to form a ME liquid. In such ME liquid, either of the two external fields will induce the magnetization and electric polarization. The ME coupling and fluidity will enable coupling with other functionalities (not possible in the solid-state), such as rheological behaviour, and flexible shaping and positioning by external fields. Fundamental studies of their behaviours will open new horizons in soft-matter physics. Complementary background of the leading researchers and their teams will address all interdisciplinary challenges: materials science, organic chemistry and physics.
