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Proximity effect between superconductors and ferromagnets may become long range due to the generation of triplet pairs. The recent finding of a long one micron-range unconventional Josephson effect between YBa2Cu3O7 High Tc cuprates separated by a half metallic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 manganite ferromagnet has uncovered a novel unconventional triplet proximity effect. In this paper we examine the temperature dependence of the critical current of planar Josephson junctions. We find that the critical current –normal resistance product follows the predictions of traditional superconductor-normal metal-superconductor junctions which implies that triplet pairs in a ferromagnet are transported in the diffusive limit similarly to singlet pairs in a normal metal. This result calls for theoretical studies of the new triplet Josephson effect and underlines its potential in future superconducting spintronics.

Ferroelectric oxides with low bandgaps are mainly based on the BiFeO perovskite upon the partial substitution of iron with different cations. However, the structural stability of many of these perovskites is only possible by their processing at high pressures (HP, >1GPa) and high temperatures (HT, >700ºC). Preparation methods under these severe conditions are accessible to powders and bulk ceramics. However, transferring these conditions to the fabrication of thin films is a challenge, thus limiting their use in applications. Here, a chemical solution deposition method is devised, which overcomes many of these restrictions. It is based on the application of an external compressive-stress to the film sample during the thermal treatment required for the film crystallization, promoting the formation and stabilization of these HP perovskites. We demonstrate the concept on BiFeCrO (BFCO) thin films deposited on SrTiO (STO) substrates and with large chromium contents. The resulting BFCO perovskite films show narrow bandgaps (Eg∼2.57 eV) and an excellent ferroelectric response (remnant polarization, P∼ 40 μC cm). The polarized thin films under illumination present a large out-put power of ∼6.4 μW cm, demonstrating their potential for using in self-powered multifunctional devices. This stress-mediated solution deposition method can be extended to other perovskite films which are unviable under conventional deposition methods., This work has been financed by Spanish Projects PID2019-104732RB-I00, MAT2016-76851-R, MAT2017-91772-EXP (AEI/FEDER, UE) and RTI2018-096918-B-C41. I.B. acknowledges financial support from the Ramón&Cajal Spanish Programm. We thank Dr. M. Coll and P. Machado for the deposition of LSMO layers on the STO substrates (Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Barcelona ICMAB-CSIC). M.L.-C. and H.X. acknowledges the support from Spanish MINECO for the grant GraPErOs (ENE2016-79282-C5-2-R), the OrgEnergy Excellence NetworkCTQ2016-81911- REDT, the Agència de Gestiód'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR) for the support to the consolidated Catalonia research group 2017 SGR 329 and the Xarxa de Referència en Materials Avançats per a l'Energia (Xarmae). ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa program from Spanish MINECO (Grant No. SEV-2017-0706) and is funded by the CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya.

Bound states in superconductors are expected to exhibit a spatially resolved electron-hole asymmetry which is the hallmark of their quantum nature. This asymmetry manifests as oscillations at the Fermi wavelength, which is usually tiny and thus washed out by thermal broadening or by scattering at defects. Here we demonstrate theoretically and confirm experimentally that, when coupled to magnetic impurities, bound states in a vortex core exhibit an emergent axial electron-hole asymmetry on a much longer scale, set by the coherence length. We study vortices in 2H-NbSe2 and in 2H-NbSe1.8S0.2 with magnetic impurities, characterizing these with detailed Hubbard-corrected density functional calculations. We find that the induced electron-hole imbalance depends on the band character of the superconducting material. Our results show that coupling between quantum bound states in superconductors is remarkably robust and has a strong influence in tunneling measurements., This work was supported by the EU (ERC-StG-679080, ERC-2015-AdG-694097, ERC AdG Mol-2D 788222 and H2020-MSCAIF-2016-751047), by FET-OPEN program (grant 862893 FATMOLS), by EU program Cost (NANOCOHYBRI CA16218 and MOLSPIN CA15128), by Graphene Flagship (grant agreement number 881603, GrapheneCore3 project), by the Spanish State Research Agency (FIS2017-84330-R, RYC-2014-15093, MDM-2014-0377, MDM-2015-0538, CEX2018-000805-M, MAT2017-89993-R co-financed by FEDER and CEX2019-000919-M), by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under under Germany’s Excellence Strategy— Cluster of Excellence Advanced Imaging of Matter (AIM) EXC 2056—390715994, RTG 1995 and GRK 2247, by the Comunidad de Madrid through program NANOMAGCOST-CM (Program No.S2018/NMT-4321) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (Grupos Consolidados IT1249-19, Prometeo Programme, iDiFEDER/2018/061 and CDEIGENT/2019/022). J.J.B. acknowledges the Marie Curie Fellowship program (H2020-MSCA-IF-2016-751047). A.R. acknowledges support by the MPI-New York City Center for Non-Equilibrium Quantum Phenomena. H.S., E.H., and I.G. acknowledge SEGAINVEX at UAM for design and construction of STM cryogenic equipment. S.P. acknowledges Banco Santander - María de Maeztu program (ref. 102I0112).

Paper has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of electronic components. In fact, paper is 10 000 times cheaper than crystalline silicon, motivating the research to integrate electronic materials on paper substrates. Among the different electronic materials, van der Waals materials are attracting the interest of the scientific community working on paper-based electronics because of the combination of high electrical performance and mechanical flexibility. Up to now, different methods have been developed to pattern conducting, semiconducting and insulating van der Waals materials on paper but the integration of superconductors remains elusive. Here, the deposition of NbSe2, an illustrative van der Waals superconductor, on standard copy paper is demonstrated. The deposited NbSe2 films on paper display superconducting properties (e.g. observation of Meissner effect and resistance drop to zero-resistance state when cooled down below its critical temperature) similar to those of bulk NbSe2., Paper has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of electronic components but the integration of electronic materials is challenging. Here the integration of NbSe2, a van der Waals superconductor, on paper is demonstrated.

We investigate the intercalation process of oxygen in-between a PVD-grown graphene layer and different copper substrates as a methodology for reducing the substrate-layer interaction. This growth method leads to an extended defect-free graphene layer that strongly couples with the substrate. We have found, by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, that after oxygen exposure at different temperatures, ranging from 280 °C to 550 °C, oxygen intercalates at the interface of graphene grown on Cu foil at an optimal temperature of 500 °C. The low energy electron diffraction technique confirms the adsorption of an atomic oxygen adlayer on top of the Cu surface and below graphene after oxygen exposure at elevated temperature, but no oxidation of the substrate is induced. The emergence of the 2D Raman peak, quenched by the large interaction with the substrate, reveals that the intercalation process induces a structural undoing. As suggested by atomic force microscopy, the oxygen intercalation does not change significantly the surface morphology. Moreover, theoretical simulations provide further insights into the electronic and structural undoing process. This protocol opens the door to an efficient methodology to weaken the graphene-substrate interaction for a more efficient transfer to arbitrary surfaces., This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (GrantsMAT2017-85089-C2-1-R and RYC-2015-17730), the EU via the ERC-Synergy Program (Grant ERC-2013-SYG-610256 NANOCOSMOS), EUGraphene Flagship funding (Grant GrapheneCore3 881603) and the''Comunidad de Madrid'' via the FotoArt-CM project (S2018/NMT-4367). JA acknowledges support from the FPI program of SpanishMINECO (BES-2012-058600).

The Josephson effect results from the coupling of two superconductors across a spacer such as an insulator, a normal metal or a ferromagnet to yield a phase coherent quantum state. However, in junctions with ferromagnetic spacers, very long-range Josephson effects have remained elusive. Here we demonstrate extremely long-range (micrometric) high-temperature (tens of kelvins) Josephson coupling across the half-metallic manganite La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 combined with the superconducting cuprate YBa2Cu3O7. These planar junctions, in addition to large critical currents, display the hallmarks of Josephson physics, such as critical current oscillations driven by magnetic flux quantization and quantum phase locking effects under microwave excitation (Shapiro steps). The latter display an anomalous doubling of the Josephson frequency predicted by several theories. In addition to its fundamental interest, the marriage between high-temperature, dissipationless quantum coherent transport and full spin polarization brings opportunities for the practical realization of superconducting spintronics, and opens new perspectives for quantum computing. Josephson coupling over micrometres and at tens of kelvins is demonstrated across the half-metallic manganite La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 combined with the superconducting cuprate YBa2Cu3O7.

Magnetoimpedance spectroscopy was carried out on phase-separated La

The effect of Ni2+ substitution on the magneto-transport properties and the concomitant relationship with the magnetocaloric function of nano-sized La0.7Ca0.3Mn1−xNixO3 (x = 0, 0.02, 0.07, and 0.10) perovskite manganites are reported. All the samples were synthesized using the auto-combustion method. X-ray diffraction analysis studies confirmed the phase purity of the synthesized samples. The substitution of Mn3+ ions with Ni2+ ions in the La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 lattice was also verified using this technique. Rietveld analysis indicated that the volume of the unit cell increased with increasing Ni2+ content. Zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetization showed that all samples underwent a paramagnetic-ferromagnetic phase transition, which was concomitant with a metal-insulator transition. A small deviation between the zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetization curves was observed when the measurements were carried out in a field of 1000 Oe. The Curie temperature decreased systematically from 264 K for x = 0 to 174 K for x = 0.10. Probably the doping at the Mn3+ sites with Ni2+ ions in the La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 lattice weakened the Mn3+-O-Mn4+ double exchange interaction, which led to a decrease in the transition temperature. The metal-insulator transition also shifted to lower temperatures upon Ni2+ substitution, and the value of the resistivity increased. Different conduction mechanisms were found in different temperature regions. Important physical parameters such as the polaron activation energy were obtained from the fit of the models to the experimental data. Arrot’s plots revealed a second-order nature of the magnetic transition for all the samples, which was also confirmed by Landau’s theory and universal curves. The second-order character of the magnetic phase transition observed in the pristine La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 sample may be attributed to effects of the downsizing of the particle. Interestingly, a notable increase in the value of the magnetic entropy change was observed at Ni2+ doping levels as low as 2%. The magnetoresistance underwent a great change near the magnetic transition temperature, suggesting a close relationship between the magnetocaloric effect and magnetotransport properties in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 manganites. Such behavior can be attributed to the spin order/disorder feature, which plays a crucial role in both effects. On the other hand, the value of the magnetoresistance of the pristine La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 sample increased upon Ni2+ doping, which is probably related to the downsizing of the particles.

We fabricate large-area atomically thin MoS2 layers through the direct transformation of crystalline molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) by sulfurization at relatively low temperatures. The obtained MoS2 sheets are polycrystalline (~10-20 nm single-crystal domain size) with areas of up to 300×300 µm2 with 2-4 layers in thickness and show a marked p-type behaviour. The synthesized films are characterized by a combination of complementary techniques: Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and electronic transport measurements.

[EN] The metastability impediment which usually prevents the obtaining of a phase-pure BiFeO3 material can be dramatically stressed when taking the system to the thin film configuration. In order to preserve the stoichiometry, the films need to be processed at low temperatures and hence the solid-state diffusion processes which usually govern the microstructural evolution in bulk cannot be expected to also rule the development of the functional films. All these circumstances were presumed when exploring the possibilities of an aqueous solution–gel process plus spin-coating deposition method to reproduce, in thin film dimensions, the excellent multiferroic properties that have been previously observed with an optimized rare-earth and Ti4+-codoped BiFeO3 bulk composition. The experiments indicate high reliability for the tested methodology, allowing for the obtaining of homogeneous dense films at temperatures as low as 600 1C and with a tunable multiferroic response depending on the formulated rare-earth (Sm or Nd). Thorough structural characterization of the films reveals that despite the low temperature processing restrictions, effective microstructural control is achieved at the nanoscale, which is attributed to effective retention (pinning) of the dopants inside the perovskite structure of BiFeO3., his work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN) under projects MAT2016-80182-R, MAT2017-87134-c2-2-R and partially by the project MAT2016-76851-R. It was also supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen), project number G039414N. Dr T. Jardiel acknowledges the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the Ramon y Cajal Program of MICINN for the financial support. Work by Dr Calatayud was also supported by Fundación General CSIC (COMFUTURO Program). We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

In this work we analyze the role of the SiO2 layer in the functionality of Fe3O4/SiO2/Si heterostructures, which have been proved to present a strong potential for spin-based applications. Nevertheless, a complete control of the interfaces properties is fundamental for application. In this work, high quality heterostructures are fabricated avoiding chemical exchange and achieving good quality interfaces. The chemical interaction between the Fe3O4 and SiO2 layers during the heterostructures manufacture is deeply analyzed and its role on the transport, magnetic and magneto transport response is revealed. It is proven that during Fe3O4 deposition a competitive interplay happens between the catalytic action of Fe atoms, the transport of dissociated oxygen through SiO2 and the stabilization of Fe3O4. A defective silicon oxide layer is found to grow on top of the native SiO2 enabling the formation of single phase Fe3O4 layer. Such a defective layer and the granular character of the Fe3O4 determine the magnetic and transport response of the heterostructures. The present results prove that the defects in the SiO2 layer induce the switching of the MR sign, so that anomalous positive MR at RT exceeding 17% at 80 kOe is obtained in heterostructures with 19 nm thick magnetite layer, while conventional negative MR response is obtained for thicker films.

Ferromagnetic low-temperature phase (LTP) of manganese bismuth MnBi (at.%) alloy has been prepared by DC magnetron sputtering onto glass by alternative deposition of Bi and Mn with in-situ annealing. Modifying the temperature during deposition and/or during post-growth annealing leads to different microstructures ranging from quasi-isotropic isolated MnBi micro-particles to larger platelet-like individual ones up to highly coalesced textured film-like areas. These microstructural variations determine the magnetic behaviour, including change in the easy axis direction and possibility of varying coercivity from 4 to 16 kOe at room temperature. In all the cases, coercivity has a positive temperature coefficient, reaching 29 kOe at 500 K, being among the largest reported coercivity for MnBi. Isolated LTP-MnBi microstructures, being homogeneously distributed onto glass, have been grown while avoiding the presence of unreacted Bi regions between the MnBi structures. The possibility of tuning microstructural and magnetic properties, in combination with their time stability, makes them interesting candidates for high temperature permanent magnet applications., This research has been supported by MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) at IMDEA Nanociencia through ENMA-National project (MAT2014-56955-R) and at ICMM-CSIC by MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R; by MINECO through M-era.Net Programme: NEXMAG project (PCIN-2015-126); and by Regional Government (Comunidad de Madrid): NANOFRONTMAG (Ref. S2013/MIT-2850). EC acknowledges MINECO for the Formación Posdoctoral (JdC) program (FPDI-2013).

We present a new protocol to grow large-area, high-quality single-layer graphene on Cu foils at relatively low temperatures. We use C60 molecules evaporated in ultra high vacuum conditions as carbon source. This clean environment results in a strong reduction of oxygen-containing groups as depicted by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Unzipping of C60 is thermally promoted by annealing the substrate at 800 °C during evaporation. The graphene layer extends over areas larger than the Cu crystallite size, although it is changing its orientation with respect to the surface in the wrinkles and grain boundaries, producing a modulated ring in the low energy electron diffraction (LEED) pattern. This protocol is a self-limiting process leading exclusively to one single graphene layer. Raman spectroscopy confirms the high quality of the grown graphene. This layer exhibits an unperturbed Dirac-cone with a clear n-doping of 0.77 eV, which is caused by the interaction between graphene and substrate. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that this interaction can be induced by a coupling between graphene and substrate at specific points of the structure leading to a local sp3 configuration, which also contribute to the D-band in the Raman spectra., Financial support from EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 696656 (GrapheneCore1-Graphene-based disruptive technologies) and Spanish MINECO (grants MAT2014-54231-C4-1-P,MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R, CSD2009-00013, MAT2015-64110) is acknowledged. JA and NR are supported by the FPI program from MINECO (BES-2012-058600 and BES-2015-072642, respectively). CM and JIM acknowledge the financial support by the “Ramón y Cajal” Program of MINECO (RYC-2014-16626 and RYC-2015-17730, respectively). JIM and GS acknowledge funding from the ERC-Synergy Program (grant ERC-2013-SYG-610256 Nanocosmos). JIM thanks CTI-CSIC for use of computing resources. MK and VV acknowledge funding from ERC-CZ (LL1301) project. GO-I acknowledges FCT for his grant (SFRH/BPD/90562/2012).

We present magnetoresistivity measurements in high-quality single crystals of the Nowotny chimney ladder compound Ru$_2$Sn$_3$. We find a linear and nonsaturating magnetoresistance up to 20 T. The magnetoresistance changes with the magnetic field orientation at small magnetic fields, from a positive to a negative curvature. Above 5 T, the magnetoresistance shows no sign of saturation up to 20 T for any measured angle. The shape of the anisotropy in the magnetoresistance remains when increasing temperature and Kohler's rule is obeyed. We associate the linear and nonsaturating magnetoresistance to a small Fermi surface with hot spots, possibly formed as a consequence of the structural transition. We discuss the relevance of electron-electron interactions under magnetic fields and aspects of the topologically nontrivial properties expected in Ru$_2$Sn$_3$., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

A novel magnetic monolithic catalyst based on K2CO3/γ-Al2O3/Sepiolite/γ-Fe2O3 was developed seeking to convert efficiently soybean oil and bioethanol to ethanolic biodiesel and glycerol. The magnetic monolithic was attained by extrusion method and characterized by EPR, VSM, SEM, Dynamometry, XRD, BET, and CO2-TPD, showing satisfactory magnetic, morphological, mechanical, structural and textural properties. The catalytic performance of this monolithic catalyst was also evaluated in a reactor assisted by magnetic field. The reactor was operated in a closed loop, recycling the reaction mixture. High oil conversion to biodiesel was obtained using 5 wt% of catalyst with 1:12 oil/ethanol molar ratio at 70 °C after 1.5 h. The magnetic properties of this monolithic catalyst allowed the bed stabilization under magnetic field and the catalysts separation, enabling its reuse by four reaction cycles. The authors are grateful to the State University of Northern of Rio de Janeiro for the Postdoctoral Position Fellow (No. 001/2017), Institutional Program of the Estacio de Sá University for Research Productivity Fellow and the Brazilian agencies: FAPERJ (E-26/210.508/2014) and CAPES (Finance Code 001) for the financial support.

We fabricated large-area atomically thin MoS2 layers through the direct transformation of crystalline molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) by sulfurization at relatively low temperatures. The obtained MoS2 sheets are polycrystalline (~10&ndash, 20 nm single-crystal domain size) with areas of up to 300 &times, 300 &micro, m2, 2&ndash, 4 layers in thickness and show a marked p-type behavior. The synthesized films are characterized by a combination of complementary techniques: Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and electronic transport measurements.

The persistence of ferroelectricity in ultrathin layers relies critically on screening or compensation of polarization charges which otherwise destabilize the ferroelectric state. At surfaces, charged defects play a crucial role in the screening mechanism triggering novel mixed electrochemical-ferroelectric states. At interfaces, however, the coupling between ferroelectric and electrochemical states has remained unexplored. Here, we make use of the dynamic formation of the oxygen vacancy profile in the nanometer-thick barrier of a ferroelectric tunnel junction to demonstrate the interplay between electrochemical and ferroelectric degrees of freedom at an oxide interface. We fabricate ferroelectric tunnel junctions with a ${\mathrm{La}}_{0.7}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{0.3}{\mathrm{MnO}}_{3}$ bottom electrode and ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ ferroelectric barrier. We use poling strategies to promote the generation and transport of oxygen vacancies at the metallic top electrode. Generated oxygen vacancies control the stability of the ferroelectric polarization and modify its coercive fields. The ferroelectric polarization, in turn, controls the ionization of oxygen vacancies well above the limits of thermodynamic equilibrium, triggering the build up of a Schottky barrier at the interface which can be turned on and off with ferroelectric switching. This interplay between electronic and electrochemical degrees of freedom yields very large values of the electroresistance (more than ${10}^{6}%$ at low temperatures) and enables a controlled switching between clockwise and counterclockwise switching modes in the same junction (and consequently, a change of the sign of the electroresistance). The strong coupling found between electrochemical and electronic degrees of freedom sheds light on the growing debate between resistive and ferroelectric switching in ferroelectric tunnel junctions, and moreover, can be the source of novel concepts in memory devices and neuromorphic computing.

A gel consists of a network of particles or molecules formed for example using the sol-gel process, by which a solution transforms into a porous solid. Particles or molecules in a gel are mainly organized on a scaffold that makes up a porous system. Quantized vortices in type-II superconductors mostly form spatially homogeneous ordered or amorphous solids. Here we present high-resolution imaging of the vortex lattice displaying dense vortex clusters separated by sparse or entirely vortex-free regions in β-Bi2Pd superconductor. We find that the intervortex distance diverges upon decreasing the magnetic field and that vortex lattice images follow a multifractal behavior. These properties, characteristic of gels, establish the presence of a novel vortex distribution, distinctly different from the well-studied disordered and glassy phases observed in high-temperature and conventional superconductors. The observed behavior is caused by a scaffold of one-dimensional structural defects with enhanced stress close to the defects. The vortex gel might often occur in type-II superconductors at low magnetic fields. Such vortex distributions should allow to considerably simplify control over vortex positions and manipulation of quantum vortex states. Fil: Llorens, José Benito. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; España Fil: Embon, Lior. Weizmann Institute Of Science.; Israel Fil: Correa, Alexandre. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España. Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid; España Fil: González, Jesús David. Universidad del Magdalena; Colombia. Universiteit Antwerp; Bélgica Fil: Herrera, Edwin. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; España. Universidad Central; Colombia Fil: Guillamón, Isabel. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; España Fil: Luccas, Roberto F.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España Fil: Azpeitia, Jon. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España Fil: Mompeán, Federico J.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España Fil: García Hernández, Mar. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España Fil: Munuera, Carmen. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España Fil: Aragón Sánchez, Jazmín. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Bajas Temperaturas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche | Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Fasano, Yanina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Area de Investigación y Aplicaciones No Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Bajas Temperaturas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche | Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología. Unidad Ejecutora Instituto de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología - Nodo Bariloche; Argentina Fil: Milosevic, Milorad V.. Universiteit Antwerp; Bélgica Fil: Suderow, Hermann. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; España Fil: Anahory, Yonathan. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Israel

Technologically useful and robust graphene-based interfaces for devices require the introduction of highly selective, stable, and covalently bonded functionalities on the graphene surface, whilst essentially retaining the electronic properties of the pristine layer. This work demonstrates that highly controlled, ultrahigh vacuum covalent chemical functionalization of graphene sheets with a thiol-terminated molecule provides a robust and tunable platform for the development of hybrid nanostructures in different environments. We employ this facile strategy to covalently couple two representative systems of broad interest: metal nanoparticles, via S–metal bonds, and thiol-modified DNA aptamers, via disulfide bridges. Both systems, which have been characterized by a multitechnique approach, remain firmly anchored to the graphene surface even after several washing cycles. Atomic force microscopy images demonstrate that the conjugated aptamer retains the functionality required to recognize a target protein. This methodology opens a new route to the integration of high-quality graphene layers into diverse technological platforms, including plasmonics, optoelectronics, or biosensing. With respect to the latter, the viability of a thiol-functionalized chemical vapor deposition graphene-based solution-gated field-effect transistor array was assessed., This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 696656 (Graphene Flagship-core 1) and no 785219 (Graphene Flagship −core 2); UE FP7 ideas: ERC (grant ERC-2013-SYG-610256 Nanocosmos) and Spanish MINECO grants MAT2014-54231-C4-1-P, MAT2014-54231-C4-4-P, MAT2017-85089-C2-1-R, MAT2014-59772-C2-2-P, and BIO2016-79618-R (funded by EU under the FEDER programme), as well as the Nanoavansens program from the Community of Madrid (S2013/MIT-3029). This work has made use of the Spanish ICTS Network MICRONANOFABS partially supported by MINECO and also the ICTS NANBIOSIS, more specifically the Micro-Nano Technology Unit of the CIBER in Bioengineering, Biomaterials & Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) at the IMB-CNM. We are grateful to Matthias Muntwiler for his assistance with experiments in the PEARL beamline in the SLS facility. Finally, we acknowledge the TEM and ICP services at the CNB and ICMM institutes, respectively. CSS acknowledges the MINECO for a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación grant (IJCI-2014-19291). M. Marciello is grateful to the Comunidad de Madrid (CM) and European Social Fund (ESF) for supporting her research work through the I+D Collaborative Programme in Biomedicine NIETO-CM (B2017-BMD3731).

Magnetoelectric coupling in artificial multiferroic interfaces can be drastically affected by the switching of oxygen vacancies and by the inversion of the ferroelectric polarization. Disentangling both effects is of major importance toward exploiting these effects in practical spintronic or spinorbitronic devices. We report on the independent control of ferroelectric and oxygen vacancy switching in multiferroic tunnel junctions with a La_(0.7)Sr_(0.3)MnO_3 bottom electrode, a BaTiO_3 ferroelectric barrier, and a Ni top electrode. We show that the concurrence of interface oxidation and ferroelectric switching allows for the controlled inversion of the interface spin polarization. Moreover, we show the possibility of a spin-memristor where the controlled oxidation of the interface allows for a continuum of memresistance states in the tunneling magnetoresistance. These results signal interesting new avenues toward neuromorphic devices where, as in practical neurons, the electronic response is controlled by electrochemical degrees of freedom.

[EN] Thin films of ferromagnetic LTP-MnBi (Low Temperature Phase of MnBi) have been grown by magnetron sputtering onto quartz substrates. Two particular issues related to LTP-MnBi have been investigated: the strong influence of the growth temperature and the degradation of magnetic properties in time. The temperature dependence on the magnetic, morphological and microstructural properties has been investigated, evidencing drastic changes on the properties of MnBi with small temperature variations. By inducing a gradient of temperature during the growth, two well differentiated regions with different morphology and crystal structure have been observed in a MnBi film sample. On the other hand, aging experiments performed in a different LTP-MnBi sample has led to a notable decrease of 54% in the saturation magnetization after 6 days and a complete loss of ferromagnetic response after 4 months., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) through NEXMAG (M-era.Net Programme, Ref. No. PCIN-2015- 126), 3D-MAGNETOH (Ref. No. MAT2017-89960-R) and Ref. No. MAT2014-52402-C2-2-R, and from the Regional Government of Madrid through NANOMAGCOST project (Ref. P2018/NMT-4321).

[EN] The report of the Meissner effect in annealed samples of K3Tp (Tp = p-terphenyl) above 120 K has raised the interest in this deceptively simple material concerning superconductivity. We have investigated the structural integrity of the Tp framework in the annealed samples of KxTp at increasing processing time and temperature T. Our experimental studies show that both K2Tp and K3Tp mixing stoichiometries have identical Raman (solid state) and UV–vis (1,2-dimethoxyethane solution) spectra, being consistent with the molecular dianion by density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory simulations. Magnetization vs T plots show no signs of superconductivity and neither do conductance vs T plots. Searching for potentially active minor byproducts formed during thermal processing, the role of K-doped poly(p-phenylene) has been examined, but it does not seem to explain the reported effects either. Further efforts are needed to explain the nature of this elusive phenomenon., Financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FIS2015-64222-C2-1-P, MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R, and MAT2016-78625-C2-1-2-P), the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant PROMETEO/2017/139), and the University of Alicante (VIGROB-285) is gratefully acknowledged. M.C. thanks the VIDI of the University of Alicante for a predoctoral grant. A.G. greatly appreciates the computational resources provided by the Department of Applied Physics of the University of Alicante.

Many practical applications of high T superconductors involve layered materials and magnetic fields applied on an arbitrary direction with respect to the layers. When the anisotropy is very large, Cooper pair currents can circulate either within or perpendicular to the layers. Thus, tilted magnetic fields lead to intertwined lattices of Josephson and Abrikosov vortices, with quantized circulation across and within layers, respectively. Transport in such intertwined lattices has been studied in detail, but direct observation and manipulation of vortices remains challenging. Here we present magnetic force microscopy experiments in tilted magnetic fields in the extremely quasi-two dimensional superconductor BiSrCaCuO. We trigger Abrikosov vortex motion in between Josephson vortices, and find that Josephson vortices in different layers can be brought on top of each other. Our measurements suggest that intertwined lattices in tilted magnetic fields can be intrinsically easy to manipulate thanks to the mutual interaction between Abrikosov and Josephson vortices., Work done in Madrid was supported through grant numbers FIS2017-84330-R, MDM-2014-0377, MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R, RYC-2014-16626, and RYC-2014-15093 of AEI, by the Comunidad de Madrid through program Nanofrontmag-CM (S2013/MIT-2850), by the European Research Council PNICTEYES grant agreement no. 679080, by EU Flagship Graphene Core1 under Grant Agreement no. 696656, by French ANR project OPTOFLUXTRONICS and by EU COST CA16218 Nanocohybri.SEGAINVEX at UAM is also acknowledged. We also acknowledge the support of Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, COLCIENCIAS (Colombia) Convocatoria 784-2017, and the Cluster de investigación en ciencias y tecnologías convergentes de la Universidad Central (Colombia).

We present the structural and magnetic properties of a novel series of La0.67Sr0.22Ba0.11Mn1-xFexO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) perovskites prepared by the sol–gel method. These oxides were characterized by x-ray (XRD), neutron powder diffraction (NDP) at room temperature and magnetization measurements versus temperature and various applied magnetic fields. The NPD data, very sensitive to the octahedral tilting, show a crystallographic phase transition from an orthorhombic structure (Pnma) for x = 0 to a rhombohedral structure (R-3c) for Fe-doped samples. Magnetic data show that x = 0 and x = 0.1 perovskites exhibit a paramagnetic–ferromagnetic transition at low temperature, while for 0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.3 a strong divergence between ZFC and FC curves suggest the presence of antagonistic antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions. The magnetic entropy change (|ΔSmax|) takes values of 2.46 J kg−1 K−1, 2.43 J kg−1 K−1 and 0.91 J kg−1 for x = 0, x = 0.1 and 0.2, respectively at 5 T. The relative cooling power (RCP) amounts 169 J Kg−1, 241 J Kg−1 and 70 J Kg−1 at 5 T for x = 0, 0.1, 0.2 respectively. These values are compared favorably with those of some others reported manganites, making La0.67Sr0.22Ba0.11Mn0.9Fe0.1O3 a promising candidate for magnetic refrigeration., We acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity the project MAT2013-41099-R.

La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 and La0.5Ca0.4Ag0.1MnO3 ceramics have been prepared by sol–gel methods and its magnetic properties, and electronic transport properties have been experimentally investigated. X-ray diffraction data reveal that all samples crystallize in a orthorhombic structure with Pnma space group. Magnetic measurements of La0.5Ca0.5MnO3 show multiple magnetic transitions, a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic and a ferromagnetic to charge-ordered antiferromagnetic. Two metal–semiconductor transitions (Tρ1 and Tρ2) are observed in the electrical resistivity. The electrical resistivity decreases when an external magnetic field is applied rendering a magnetoresistive effect of the order of 75% at the charge-ordered temperature. All the samples clearly reveal the unusual low temperature resistivity minimum, presumably due to the combined effect of weak localization, electron–electron and electron–phonon scattering. The present results are discussed and possible explanations were given based on the related theory and previous reported results., This paper within the frame work of collaboration is supported by the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Grants MAT2011-27470-C02-02 and CSD2009-00013 from the Spanish MINECO are acknowledged.

Many structural phase transitions are of first order, and many superconducting transitions are of second order. Some iron-based materials have a first-order (magneto)structural phase transition and then cross over to a superconducting phase at low temperatures. Using nanoscale imaging, the authors show that this results in separated superconducting and normal regions, each showing a different crystalline structure. In systems having different crystalline phases, it can be energetically favorable to separate a superconductor into patches.

8 pags, 9 figs, 4 tabs, The transparent semiconductor ZnSnO with cubic spinel structure and the isostructural ZnTiO have been magnetically doped with Co. ZnCoSnO and ZnCoTiO exhibit ferrimagnetism below T ≈ 13 K and T ≈ 17 K. Ferrimagnetic moments are evident in M vs H curves below T by small hysteresis. Fits to strictly linear Curie-Weiss plots above T give μ ≈ 4.86 μ and ≈4.91 μ for ZnCoSnO and ZnCoTiO, above theoretical predictions. Impedance spectroscopy data from sintered ceramic can be fitted with a standard equivalent circuit model based on two RC elements for bulk and GB areas. The relative dielectric permittivity of the bulk is ≈20 and ≈30 for ZnSnO and ZnTiO. The semiconducting ZnCoSnO and ZnCoTiOceramics exhibit bulk resistivity of ≈1 10 Ω cm and ≈1 10 Ω cm at 560 K (287 °C), and bulk activation energies of E ≈ 1.2 eV and 1.1 eV., R.S. acknowledges a travel grant (Convenio Internacional) from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid to visit the USACH in Chile. JPG thanks the Spanish MINECO for granting a Juan de la Cierva fellowship. Spanish MINECO grant MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R is also acknowledged.

We have assessed the stabilizing role that induced co-deposition has in the growth of nanostructured NiW alloy films by electrodeposition on polished steel substrates, under pulsed galvanostatic conditions. We have compared the kinetic roughening properties of NiW films with those of Ni films deposited under the same conditions, as assessed by Atomic Force Microscopy. The surface morphologies of both systems are super-rough at short times, but differ at long times: while a cauliflower-like structure dominates for Ni, the surfaces of NiW films display a nodular morphology consistent with more stable, conformal growth, whose height fluctuations are in the Kardar-Parisi- Zhang universality class of rough two-dimensional interfaces. These differences are explained by the mechanisms controlling surface growth in each case: mass transport through the electrolyte (Ni) and attachment of the incoming species to the growing interface (NiW). Thus, the long-time conformal growth regime is characteristic of electrochemical induced co-deposition under current conditions in which surface kinetics is hindered due to a complex reaction mechanism. These results agree with a theoretical model of surface growth in diffusion-limited systems, in which the key parameter is the relative importance of mass transport with respect to the kinetics of the attachment reaction., Facultad de Ciencias Exactas

Graphene functionalization with organics is expected to be an important step for the development of graphene-based materials with tailored electronic properties. However, its high chemical inertness makes difficult a controlled and selective covalent functionalization, and most of the works performed up to the date report electrostatic molecular adsorption or unruly functionalization. We show hereafter a mechanism for promoting highly specific covalent bonding of any amino-terminated molecule and a description of the operating processes. We show, by different experimental techniques and theoretical methods, that the excess of charge at carbon dangling-bonds formed on single-atomic vacancies at the graphene surface induces enhanced reactivity towards a selective oxidation of the amino group and subsequent integration of the nitrogen within the graphene network. Remarkably, functionalized surfaces retain the electronic properties of pristine graphene. This study opens the door for development of graphene-based interfaces, as nano-bio-hybrid composites, fabrication of dielectrics, plasmonics or spintronics., The research leading to these results has received funding from the Spanish MINECO (through Grants No. MAT2014-54231-C4-1-P, MAT2016-80394-R, RYC-2014-16626 and RYC-2015-17730), from the EU via the ERC-Synergy Program (Grant No. ERC-2013-SYG-610256 Nanocosmos) and the European Union Seventh Framework Program (Grant No. 604391 Graphene Flagship), and from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (CAM) via the MAD2D-CM Program (Grant No. S2013/MIT-3007). We also thank the computing resources from CTI-CSIC. R.L. acknowledges financial support from Spanish MINECO under Grant agreement No. CONSOLIDER INGENIO CSD2009-00013.

Multiferroic materials exhibit two or more ferroic orders and have potential applications as multifunctional materials in the electronics industry. A coupling of ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism is hereby particularly promising. We show that the synthetic melanostibite mineral MnFeSbO (R (Formula presented.) space group) with ilmenite-type structure exhibits cation off-centering that results in alternating modulated displacements, thus allowing antiferroelectricity to occur. Massive magnetoelectric coupling (MEC) and magnetocapacitance effect of up to 4000 % was detected at a record high temperature of 260 K. The multiferroic behavior is based on the imbalance of cationic displacements caused by a magnetostrictive mechanism, which sets up an unprecedented example to pave the way for the development of highly effective MEC devices operational at or near room temperature., The authors thank MINECO for funding through projects MAT2013‐44964‐R, MAT2013‐41099‐R, MAT2015‐71070‐REDC, MAT2014‐52405‐C02‐02, CTQ2015‐67755‐C2‐1‐R (MINECO/FEDER) and FPI (BES‐2013‐066112) and Ramon y Cajal (RyC‐2010–06276) fellowships, and Comunidad de Madrid through S‐2013/MIT‐2753 grant.

The effect of composition and particle size on the electrical and magnetic behavior of ZnxCo1-xFe2O4 spinels (x = 0.2 and 0.3) has been studied. Powdered samples of these ferrites have been synthetized by the liquid mix technique and hydrothermal method (in sub and supercritical conditions), leading to average particle sizes of ca. 50 and 10 nm, respectively. They have been characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, Thermogravimetric analysis, Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and impedance and magnetic measurements. Permittivity values up to ca. 500 were registered at 375 K, which remained almost constant at moderate frequencies, between 10 3 and 106 Hz. Stabilization of polarization phenomena is very sensitive to grain size and composition. Dielectric behavior evolves to a relaxor ferroelectric response when grain size becomes nanometric and, particularly, when the sample shows high monodispersion. The conduction mechanism and type of majority charge carriers have been established from Seebeck measurements. The x = 0.3 sample, prepared in supercritical water for the first time, exhibits homogeneous particle size distribution, superparamagnetic behavior and Curie temperature lower than those corresponding to similar microsized samples. The electronic response of the ferrites obtained in supercritical conditions is interpreted considering the possible short scale polarization of nanodomains. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., Authors are grateful to the CAI centers of the UCM (XRD and electron microscopy) and financial support from Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Grants MAT2010-20117, MAT2011-27470-C02-02 and CSD2009-00013.

The A-site ordered perovskite oxide CdCu3Mn4O 12 has been synthesized for the first time in polycrystalline form under high pressure (7 GPa) and high temperature (1000 °C) conditions, required to stabilize the small Cd and Cu cations at the A positions of the perovskite. The crystal structure has been studied by X-ray powder diffraction at room temperature. This oxide crystallizes in the cubic space group Im3̄ (no. 204) with the unit-cell parameter a = 7.2179(5) Å at 300 K. The MnO6 network is extremely tilted, giving rise to a square planar coordination for Cu2+ cations. The magnetic characterization shows that this compound is ferrimagnetic with an ordering temperature TC = 347 K, well above room temperature. A metallic behavior is displayed between 10 and 300 K. Negative magnetoresistance (MR) of 15% is achieved at 10 K for H = 9 T; MR is still significant at room temperature, displaying values above 7% for H = 9 T. Density functional theory calculations carried out on the density of states lead to electronic and magnetic features in good agreement with the obtained experimental results. © 2014 American Chemical Society., We thank the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to project MAT2010-16404, of the Comunidad de Madrid to project S2009PPQ-1551 (QUIMAPRES), and of the Spanish Consolider Ingenio 2010 Program (project CDS2007-00045). J.S.-B. acknowledges receipt of a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (RyC-2010-06276) from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.

This Accepted Manuscript will be available for reuse under a CC BY-NC-ND licence after 24 months of embargo period, The antiferromagnet Mn5Si3 has recently attracted attention because a noncollinear spin arrangement has been shown to produce a topological anomalous Hall effect and an inverse magnetocaloric effect. Here we synthesize single crystals of Mn5Si3 using flux growth. We determine the phase diagram through magnetization and measure the magnetoresistance and the Hall effect. We find the collinear and noncollinear antiferromagnetic phases at low temperatures and, in addition, a third magnetic phase, in between the two antiferromagnetic phases. The latter magnetic phase might be caused by strain produced by Cu inclusions. This suggests that fluctuations of the mixed character magnetic ordering in this compound can be easily quenched by stress, This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (Consolider Ingenio Molecular Nanoscience CSD2007-00010 program, FIS2017-84330-R, MDM-2014-0377, MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R, FJCI-2015-25427 and CSD2009-00013), by the Comunidad de Madrid through program NANOMAGCOST-CM (S2018 NMT-4321) and MAD2D-CM (S2013/MIT-3007) and by EU (Graphene Core1 contract No. 696656, Nanopyme FP7-NMP-2012 SMALL-6 NMP3-SL-2012 310516 and COST CA16218)

SnSe has been recently reported as an attractive thermoelectric material, with an extraordinarily high, positive, Seebeck coefficient. Here, we describe the synthesis, structural, microscopic, and thermoelectric characterization of Sn1–xSbxSe intermetallic alloys prepared by a straightforward arc-melting technique. Sb-doped tin selenide was synthesized as strongly nanostructured polycrystalline pellets. Neutron diffraction studies reveal that Sb is placed at the Sn sublattice in the crystal structure, showing concentrations as high as 30%, and generates a significant number of Sn vacancies, while the increase of the interlayer distances favors the nanostructuration. The material is nanostructured both out-of-plane in nanometer-scale layers and in-plane by ∼5 nm undulations of these layers. This nanostructuring, along with an increased amount of Sn vacancies, accounts for a reduction of the thermal conductivity, which is highly desirable for thermoelectric materials. The phonon mean free path is estimated to be on the order of 2 nm from low temperature, thermal conductivity, and specific heat, in accordance with the nanostructuration observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The thermal conductivity of SnSe is characterized by three independent techniques to assure a room temperature value of Sn0.8Sb0.2Se of κ ∼ 0.6 W/m K. The freshly prepared Sb-doped compounds exhibit an abrupt change in the type of charge carriers, leading to large, negative Seebeck coefficients, although the arc-melt synthesized pellets remain too resistive for thermoelectric applications. Cold-pressed pellets evolve to be p-type at room temperature, but reproducibly turn n-type around 500 K, with increased electrical conductivity and maximum observed figure of merit, ZT ∼ 0.3 at 908 K.

A new methodology for the preparation of nanostructured magnetic thermoset materials without any kind of metal oxide or metal magnetic nanoparticles has been proposed. The present study focuses on the nanostructuration of thermoset materials based on poly(ionic liquid)s block copolymer and the subsequent production of magnetic nanostructured thermoset. Judicious selection of block copolymer, such as P2VP-b-PMMA, soluble in epoxy and its subsequent quaternization leads to a phase modification of the system, from totally soluble to a nanostructured system. Different degree of quaternization of the pyridine groups showed the range of quaternization values which allowed the nanostructuration of the thermoset. Magnetic material was obtained by anion exchange of the quaternized poly(ionic liquid) block copolymer without using any kind of metal oxide or metal magnetic nanoparticles. The different materials obtained by quaternization of the block copolymers, the anion exchange of the polymeric ionic liquid and thermoset materials were characterized by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and magnetic properties were measured by a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). © 2013 American Chemical Society., The present work was supported by POCO European Project (NMP-213939), the PIL-to-MARKET Project (FP7-PEOPLE-IAPP-2008-230747), MAT2011-27470-C02-02, and IMAGINE CSD 2009-00013.

By using films as model systems, a combined study based on experiments and micromagnetic simulations has been performed to get further insight into the magnetic behaviour of M-type SrFeO (SrF) system in the nanosized range. Both nanocrystalline SrF quasi-isotropic and highly anisotropic films have been obtained by sputtering. Tuning of the preferred c-axis orientation, either normal or in the film plane, has been possible by varying the growth parameters and, importantly, with no need of any underlayer. Small changes in the oxygen ratio (up to 2%) and in-situ heating lead to different microstructure, which determine the strong variations of the magnetic behaviour observed, including both magnetization curves, easy axis directions, and their different coercive fields, which vary from 1 kOe to 5 kOe within the sample series. Micromagnetic simulations reproduce the experiments with a model based on a mixed population of randomly distributed SrF grains with in-plane and out-of-plane uniaxial anisotropies. The simulations show that intergranular interactions play the major role on the coercive field behaviour of the SrF system. A microstructure comprising largely uncoupled grains leads to improved magnetic performance of highly c-axis oriented SrF nanostructures., This research has been supported by EU-FP7 NANOPYME Project (No. 310516), MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad): ENMA project (MAT2014-56955-R), project MAT2013-48009-C4-1-P, MAT2014-52405-C2-2-R, M-era.Net Programme: NEXMAG project (PCIN-2015-126) and Regional Government (Comunidad de Madrid): NANOFRONTMAG (Ref. S2013/MIT-2850). E.C. acknowledges MINECO for the Formación Posdoctoral (JdC) program (FPDI-2013-16008).

We have prepared a novel series of LaSrBaMnCoxO (0 = x = 0.3) perovskites by a sol-gel method. These oxides were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and neutron powder diffraction (NPD) at room temperature and magnetization measurements vs. temperature and various applied magnetic fields. The use of NPD data allows us to describe very precisely the octahedral tilting in the orthorhombic structure (Pnma) observed for all the compounds (x = 0 to 0.3); in all the samples with x > 0, Co is distributed at random in the Mn positions of the perovskite. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show that whereas the x = 0 perovskite is ferromagnetic at relatively high temperatures (T C = 360 K), the introduction of Co induces a magnetic glass state (cluster or spin glass). The magnetic entropy change (|δS|) takes values 2.46, 2.43, 1.88 and 1.78 J kg K for x = 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3, respectively. The relative cooling power is 169, 241, 207 and 191 J kg for x = 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3, respectively, at a field change of 5 T. This result suggests that subtle Co doping enhances the magnetocaloric effect in this series, the perovskite LaSrBaMnCoO being a candidate that can be used in magnetic refrigeration., We acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity through projects MAT2013-41099-R and MAT2011-27470-C02-02.

The peculiar features of domain walls observed in ferroelectrics make them promising active elements for next-generation non-volatile memories, logic gates and energy-harvesting devices. Although extensive research activity has been devoted recently to making full use of this technological potential, concrete realizations of working nanodevices exploiting these functional properties are yet to be demonstrated. Here, we fabricate a multiferroic tunnel junction based on ferromagnetic LaSrMnO electrodes separated by an ultrathin ferroelectric BaTiO tunnel barrier, where a head-to-head domain wall is constrained. An electron gas stabilized by oxygen vacancies is confined within the domain wall, displaying discrete quantum-well energy levels. These states assist resonant electron tunnelling processes across the barrier, leading to strong quantum oscillations of the electrical conductance., Work supported by Spanish MINECO through grants MAT2014-52405-C02-01 and MAT2014-52405-C02-02, MAT2015-066888-C3-1-R, MAT2015-066888-C3-3-R (MINECO/FEDER) and CAM S2013/MIT-2740. Research at ORNL sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Basic Energy Sciences (BES), M.V. acknowledges support from Fundación BBVA. G.S. and M.C. acknowledge support from ERC Starting Investigator Grant #239739 STEMOX. J.I.B. acknowledges the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES) and CeSViMa (project FI-2016-2-0006). J.S. thanks Université Paris Saclay (DÁlembert Program) and CNRS for financing his stay at CNRS Thales.

New complex perovskites of the series CaCu(MnRe)O have been prepared from citrate precursors under moderate pressure conditions of 2 GPa and 1000 °C, in the presence of KClO as oxidizing agent to stabilize Mn/Mn mixed valence. The polycrystalline samples have been characterized by x-ray diffraction, neutron powder diffraction (NPD), magnetic, and magnetotransport measurements. The crystal structures are cubic, space group Im-3. The unit-cell parameters increase from a = 7.2379(2) Å for the parent (x = 0) compound to a = 7.2420(4) Å for CaCu(MnRe)O. Both oxides adopt a superstructure of the perovskites ABO with long-range 1:3 ordering for Ca and Cu ions at the A sublattice. For the compound doped with Re (x = 0.1), the result of a NPD study shows that Re ions are randomly located at the octahedral positions, being the (Mn,Re)O octahedra strongly tilted, with superexchange (Mn,Re)-O-(Mn,Re) angles of 142.03°. Neutron diffraction data clearly show that some Mn ions are located together with Cu at the square-planar 6b positions. The magnetic structure determined from low-temperature NPD data unveils a ferromagnetic coupling between (Mn,Re) spins at octahedral positions and weak antiferromagnetism with (Cu,Mn) spins. Interestingly, an enhancement of the magnetoresistance effect is observed for the Re-doped compound, well beyond that found for the parent perovskite., We thank the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness to the projects MAT2013-41099-R and RyC-2010-06276.

We have investigated the effect of Mg doping on structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of a novel series of LaSrBaMnMgO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) perovskites elaborated by a sol–gel method. These oxides were characterized by neutron powder diffraction (NPD) at room temperature and magnetization measurements versus temperature and various applied magnetic fields. Rietveld refinements from NPD data indicate an orthorhombic structure (Pnma) for all the compounds (x = 0 to x = 0.2); in all the samples with x > 0, Mg is distributed at random in the Mn positions of the perovskite. Magnetization measurements show a ferromagnetic behavior for x = 0 and x = 0.1 samples, whereas the compound x = 0.2 introduces a magnetic glass state (cluster or spin glass). The magnetic entropy change (|Δ S|) and the relative cooling power are, respectively, 2.46, 1.85 and 0.83 J kg K and 169, 101 and 116 J kg at a field change of 5 T, for all compounds x = 0, 0.1 and 0.2. These results are compared with those of some other reported manganites, helping to understand the magnetic arrangement required for magnetic refrigeration., We acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity through Projects MAT2013-41099-R and MAT2011-27470-C02-02.

Thermoelectric materials may contribute in the near future as new alternative sources of sustainable energy. Unprecedented thermoelectric properties in p-type SnSe single crystals have been recently reported, accompanied by extremely low thermal conductivity in polycrystalline samples. In order to enhance thermoelectric efficiency through proper tuning of this material we report a full structural characterization and evaluation of the thermoelectric properties of novel Ge-doped SnSe prepared by a straightforward arc-melting method, which yields nanostructured polycrystalline samples. Ge does not dope the system in the sense of donating carriers, yet the electrical properties show a semiconductor behavior with resistivity values higher than that of the parent compound, as a consequence of nanostructuration, whereas the Seebeck coefficient is higher and thermal conductivity lower, favorable to a better ZT figure of merit., We are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity for granting the project MAT2013-41099-R, and to ILL for making all facilities available for the neutron diffraction experiments.

Ferromagnetic MnAl (L10-MnAl phase) ultrathin films with thickness varying from 1 to 5 nm have been epitaxially grown on a GaAs (001) substrate. A coercivity above 8 kOe has been obtained with no need of a buffer layer by tuning the sample preparation and the growth parameters. Surface and interface analysis carried out by in situ characterization techniques (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and low energy electron diffraction), available in the molecular beam epitaxy chamber, has shown the formation of a ferromagnetic interface consisting of Mn-Ga-As-Al, which contribution competes with the MnAl alloyed film. The appearance of this interface provides important information to understand the growth mechanism of MnAl-based films reported in the literature.

Polycrystalline samples of Sr2BIrO6 (B: In, Sc, Fe, Co, Ti) are prepared from citrate precursors using stoichiometric mixtures of Sr(NO3)2, IrO2, In2O3, Sc2O3, FeC2O4, Co(NO3)2, and TiC10H14O5 in aqueous solutions of citric acid and HNO3 followed by heating of the resulting resins (600 °C, 12 h) and calcination in air (1100—1200 °C, 12 h).

The title perovskites (obtained from citrate precursors at 900 °C for 12 h) are characterized by XRD, neutron powder diffraction, and magnetic measurements.

Nanocrystalline powders (around 100 nm) of LaBaCrMnO (x ≤ 0.17) perovskites have been synthesized by the sol-gel based Pechini method at low temperatures. The structure, resistivity, magnetization, and magneto-transport properties were systematically investigated as a function of Cr doping. Rietveld refinement of fitted and observed X-ray diffractions patterns shows the formation of single-phase compositions with rhombohedral symmetry (space group R3¯c, no. 167). Magnetization measurements confirm a transition from a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic phase. An increase in resistivity and a decrease in the metal-semiconductor transition and Curie temperatures was observed as a consequence of Cr doping. A simple phenomenological model, describing the competition between the PM-semiconductor and FM-metallic phases, was used to elucidate the temperature dependence of the resistivity with and without an applied magnetic field, which agrees quantitatively with experimental observations. Moreover, upon Cr doping, the polaron activation energy was found to increase due to the localization of carriers. Based on the Bean-Rodbell model, we studied the chromium inducing disorder effects of second-order phase transition of the system LaBaCrMnO, which was confirmed by the η parameter value (η < 1). We applied the model to the magnetization data of the samples for x = 0.10 and x = 0.15. We showed excellent agreement between measurements and simulated data. The results account for the random replacement of Mn by Cr, which induces more disorder in the system, resulting in an increase in the disorder parameter and the fluctuation of the spin., This study is a framework of collaboration between Tunisia, Spain and Portugal. Dr Marwène Oumezzine acknowledges the Tunisian National Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research for a Grant.

This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (FIS2014-54498-R, MAT2011-27470-C02-02, and CSD-2009-00013), by the European Union (Graphene Flagship Contract No. CNECT-ICT-604391 and COST MP1201 action), and by the Comunidad de Madrid through programs Nanofrontmag-CM (S2013/MIT-2850) and MAD2D-CM (S2013/MIT-3007).We acknowledge MINECO and CSIC for financial support and for provision of synchrotron radiation facilities and would like to thank the SpLine BM25 staff for assistance in using the beamline

The design of artificial vortex pinning landscapes is a major goal toward large scale applications of cuprate superconductors. Although disordered nanometric inclusions have shown to modify their vortex phase diagram and to produce enhancements of the critical current (MacManus-Driscoll, J. L.; Foltyn, S. R.; Jia, Q. X.; Wang, H.; Serquis, A.; Civale, L.; Maiorov, B.; Hawley, M. E.; Maley, M. P.; Peterson, D. E. Nat. Mater. 2004, 3, 439?443 and Yamada, Y.; Takahashi, K.; Kobayashi, H.; Konishi, M.; Watanabe, T.; Ibi, A.; Muroga, T.; Miyata, S.; Kato, T.; Hirayama, T.; Shiohara, Y. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2005, 87, 1-3), the effect of ordered oxide nanostructures remains essentially unexplored. This is due to the very small nanostructure size imposed by the short coherence length, and to the technological difficulties in the nanofabrication process. Yet, the novel phenomena occurring at oxide interfaces open a wide spectrum of technological opportunities to interplay with the superconductivity in cuprates. Here, we show that the unusual long-range suppression of the superconductivity occurring at the interface between manganites and cuprates affects vortex nucleation and provides a novel vortex pinning mechanism. In particular, we show evidence of commensurate pinning in YBCO films with ordered arrays of LCMO ferromagnetic nanodots. Vortex pinning results from the proximity induced reduction of the condensation energy at the vicinity of the magnetic nanodots, and yields an enhanced friction between the nanodot array and the moving vortex lattice in the liquid phase. This result shows that all-oxide ordered nanostructures constitute a powerful, new route for the artificial manipulation of vortex matter in cuprates., Work at UCM supported by grants MAT2014-52405-C02-01 and Consolider Ingenio 2010-CSD2009-00013 (Imagine), by CAM through grant CAM S2013/MIT-2740. Work done at ICMM supported by Spanish MINECO (Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness) grants MAT2011-27470-C02-02, MAT2014-52405-C02-02, and Consolider Ingenio CSD2009-00013 (Imagine). J.V. acknowledges European Research Council, ERC, grant No. 647100 “SUSPINTRONICS”.