Presenter: Riley Grieve
Authors: Brandon Grieve
Faculty Advisor: Rico Del Sesto
Institution: Dixie State University
Magnetism is a fundamental property of various metals and metallic compounds. Its discovery and further development has given rise to many scientific advancements such as, magnetic information storage devices and shape memory alloys. As such, it is not uncommon in today’s society to see magnetic materials used in a variety of industrial and commercial products. While these and other similar magnetic interactions are still being studied, the overarching problem can be summarized with our incomplete understanding of the boundaries of magnetism: where does magnetism become more than just an unpaired electron, and where does it transition from the atomic paramagnetic state to a bulk “magnet” scale? This research seeks to shed light on the emerging magnetic properties of materials by attempting to design, synthesize, and trap an intermediate state of metal-ligand structures on the meso-scale. Lantanthides will be used in this study as their unpaired electrons and high spin states at the atomic level make magnetic properties easier to observe. Meso-scale structures will be trapped out with the strategic building of larger clusters through chemical systhesis and their magnetic properties will be studied. However, as these clusters are considered to be “incomplete” cystal formations, they cannot be characterized using common structural methods, which adds further complexity in the analysis of their properties. Nevertheless, the results will extend the current knowledge of where magnetism becomes a materials property rather than an atomic property.