A rhombus-shaped tetranuclear dysprosium cluster showing single-molecule magnet behavior

Lanthanide Single-molecule Magnets: Synthetic Strategy, Structures, Properties and Recent Advances

Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) show wide potential applications in the field of ultrahigh-density storage materials, quantum computing, spintronics, and so on. Lanthanide (Ln) SMMs, as an important category of SMMs, open up a promising prospect due to their large magnetic moments and huge magnetic anisotropy. However, the construction of high performance for Ln SMMs remains an enormous challenge. Although remarkable advances are focused on the topic of Ln SMMs, the research on Ln SMMs with different nuclear numbers is still deficient. Therefore, this review summarizes the design strategies for the construction of Ln SMMs, as well as the metal skeleton types. Furthermore, we collect reported Ln SMMs with mononuclearity, dinuclearity, and multinuclearity (three or more Ln spin centers) and the SMM properties including energy barrier (U_eff ) and pre-exponential factor (τ₀ ) are described. Finally, Ln SMMs with low-nuclearity SMMs, especially for single-ion magnets (SIMs), are highlighted to understand the correlations between structures and magnetic behavior of the detail SMM properties are described. We expect the review can shed light on the future developments of high-performance Ln SMMs.

Single molecule magnet behavior and magnetic refrigeration of carbonyl oxygen-bridged tetranuclear lanthanide complexes

Three lanthanide complexes were fabricated and characterized. 1 exhibited cryogenic magnetic refrigeration property and 3 displayed slow relaxation of the magnetization.

A series of [2 × 2] square grid LnIII4 clusters: a large magnetocaloric effect and single-molecule-magnet behavior

Four new [2 × 2] square grid LnIII4 clusters were successfully synthesized by employing a multidentate chelating Schiff base ligand. Magnetic studies showed that cluster 1 displays a larger magnetocaloric effect (−ΔS_m = 34.46 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ for ΔH = 7.0 T at 2.0 K), while 3 exhibits slow relaxation behavior under a zero dc field, with ΔE/k_B of 42.76 K and τ₀ of 1.02 × 10⁻⁶ s.

Single molecule magnet behavior and magnetic refrigeration of four tetranuclear lanthanide (Ln = GdIII, TbIII, DyIII) clusters

Four lanthanide complexes were fabricated and characterized. 1 and 4 exhibit a cryogenic magnetic refrigeration property and 3 displays slow relaxation of magnetization.

Linear-shaped LnIII4 and LnIII6 clusters constructed by a polydentate Schiff base ligand and a β-diketone co-ligand: structures, fluorescence properties, magnetic refrigeration and single-molecule magnet behavior

A series of linear-shaped LnIII4 and LnIII6 clusters were synthesized. The structures, fluorescence properties and magnetic properties have been deeply studied.

Structures, fluorescence properties and magnetic properties of a series of rhombus-shaped LnIII4 clusters: magnetocaloric effect and single-molecule-magnet behavior

A family LnIII4 clusters were successfully synthesized and structurally characterized. Magnetic studies show that Gd₄ cluster displays magnetic refrigeration, while Dy₄ cluster demonstrates two distinct slow magnetic relaxation processes.

Modulating single-molecule magnet behavior towards multiple magnetic relaxation processes through structural variation in Dy4 clusters

Three Dy₄ clusters based on a flexible and attractive Schiff base ligand HL have been synthesized, and they showed different tetranuclear core arrangements. Magnetic studies reveal that clusters 1–3 display distinct slow relaxation of magnetization.

Butterfly-shaped tetranuclear Ln4 clusters showing magnetic refrigeration and single molecule-magnet behavior

A series of butterfly-shaped LnIII4 clusters were successfully synthesized. Magnetic studies show that the Gd₄ cluster displays magnetic refrigeration (ΔS_m = 18.85 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹ for ΔH = 7.0 T at 2.5 K), while the Dy₄ cluster shows SMMs behavior with ΔE/k_B of 79.15 K and τ₀ of 5.82 × 10⁻⁸ s.