Assembling bimetallic {Ni-Ln}(3+) units and {W(CN)(8)}(3-) is shown to be an efficient route toward heteronuclear {3d-4f-5d} compounds. The reaction of either the binuclear [{L(Me2)Ni(H(2)O)(2)}{Ln(NO(3))(3)}] complexes or their mononuclear components [L(Me2)Ni] and Ln(NO(3))(3) with (HNBu(3))(3){W(CN)(8)} in dmf followed by diffusion of tetrahydrofuran yielded the trinuclear [{L(Me2)NiLn}{W(CN)(8)}] compounds 1 (Ln = Y), 2a,b (Gd), 3a,b (Tb), 4 (Dy), 5 (Ho), and 6 (Er) as crystalline materials. All of the derivatives possess the trinuclear core resulting from the linkage of the {W(CN)(8)} to the Ni center of the {Ni-Ln} unit. Differences are found in the solvent molecules acting as ligands and/or in the lattice depending on the crystallization conditions. For all the compounds ferromagnetic {Ni-W} and {Ni-Ln} (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy, and Er} interactions are operative resulting in high spin ground states. Parameterization of the magnetic behaviors for the Y and Gd derivatives confirmed the strong cyano-mediated {Ni-W} interaction (J(NiW) = 27.1 and 28.5 cm(-1)) compared to the {Ni-Gd} interaction (J(NiGd) = 2.17 cm(-1)). The characteristic features for slow relaxation of the magnetization are observed for two Tb derivatives, but these are modulated by the crystal phase. Analysis of the frequency dependence of the alternating current susceptibility data yielded U(eff)/k(B) = 15.3 K and tau(0) = 4.5 x 10(-7) s for one derivative whereas no maxima of chi(M)'' appear above 2 K for the second one.

Generally, the first step in modeling molecular magnets involves obtaining the lowlying eigenstates of a Heisenberg exchange Hamiltonian which conserves total spin and belongs usually to a non-Abelian point group. In quantum chemistry, it has been a long standing problem to target a state which has definite total spin and also belongs to a definite irreducible representation of the point group. Many attempts have been made over years, but unfortunately these have not resulted in methods that are easy to implement, or even applicable to all point groups.Here we present a general technique which is a hybrid method based on Valence Bond basis and the basis of z-component of the total spin, which is applicable to all types of point groups and is easy to implement on computer. We illustrate the power of the method by applying it to the molecular magnetic system, Cu 6 Fe 8 , with cubic symmetry. We emphasize that our method is applicable to spin clusters with arbitrary site spins and is easily extended to fermionic systems.

A hexanuclear cyano-bridged {MnII4NbIV2} cluster (1) bearing 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) as the blocking ligand at manganese is obtained from the reaction of cis-[MnCl2(bpy)2] and K4[Nb(CN)8]. When the blocking ligand is 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), a nonanuclear cluster {MnII6NbIV3} (2) is obtained. The structure of [{Mn(bpy)2}4{Nb(CN)8}2] has been solved by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, whereas the phen derivative has been confirmed by means of the structure analysis of the corresponding WIV analogue [{Mn(phen)2}6{W(CN)8}3(H2O)2]. Magnetic measurements revealed S=9 and 27/2 spin ground states for these aggregates as a result of antiferromagnetic Nb-Mn interaction with JNb-Mn=-18.1 cm(-1) (1) and -13.6 cm(-1) (2).

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In photovoltaic devices, the bulk disorder introduced by grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline silicon is generally considered to be detrimental to the physical stability and electronic transport of the bulk material. However, at the extremum of disorder, amorphous silicon is known to have a beneficially increased band gap, and enhanced optical absorption. This study is focused on understanding and utilizing the nature of the most commonly encountered Σ 3 GBs, to balance the incorporation the advantageous properties of amorphous silicon, while avoiding the degraded electronic transport * To whom correspondence should be addressed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 of a fully amorphous system. A combination of theoretical methods is employed to understand the impact of Σ 3 GBs on the materials properties and full-device photovoltaic performance.

Phase change materials exhibit threshold switching (TS) that establishes electrical conduction through amorphous material followed by Joule heating leading to its crystallization (set). However, achieving picosecond TS is one of the key challenges for realizing non-volatile memory operations closer to the speed of computing. Here, we present a trajectory map for enabling picosecond TS on the basis of exhaustive experimental results of voltage-dependent transient characteristics of Ge2Sb2Te5 phase-change memory (PCM) devices. We demonstrate strikingly faster switching, revealing an extraordinarily low delay time of less than 50 ps for an over-voltage equal to twice the threshold voltage. Moreover, a constant device current during the delay time validates the electronic nature of TS. This trajectory map will be useful for designing PCM device with SRAM-like speed.

Three cubane copper(II) clusters, namely [Cu(4)(HL')4] (1), [Cu4L2(OH)2] (2), and [Cu4L2(OMe)2] (3), of two pentadentate Schiff-base ligands N,N'-(2-hydroxypropane-1,3-diyl)bis(acetylacetoneimine) (H3L') and N,N'-(2-hydroxypropane-1,3-diyl)bis(salicylaldimine) (H3L), are prepared, structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography, and their variable-temperature magnetic properties studied. Complex 1 has a metal-to-ligand stoichiometry of 1:1 and it crystallizes in the cubic space group P43n with a structure that consists of a tetranuclear core with metal centers linked by a mu(3)-alkoxo oxygen atom to form a cubic arrangement of the metal and oxygen atoms. Each ligand displays a tridentate binding mode which means that a total of eight pendant binding sites remain per cubane molecule. Complexes [Cu4L2(OH)2] (2) and [Cu4L2(OMe)2] (3) crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Pccn and have a cubane structure that is formed by the self-assembly of two {Cu2L}+ units. The variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility data in the range 300-18 K show ferromagnetic exchange interactions in the complexes. Along with the ferromagnetic exchange pathway, there is also a weak antiferromagnetic exchange between the copper centers. The theoretical fitting of the magnetic data gives the following parameters: J1 = 38.5 and J2 = -18 cm(-1) for 1 with a triplet (S = 1) ground state and quintet (S = 2) lowest excited state; J1 = 14.7 and J2 = -18.4 cm(-1) for 2 with a triplet ground state and singlet (S = 0) lowest excited state; and J1 = 33.3 and J2 = -15.6 cm(-1) for 3 with a triplet ground state and quintet lowest excited state, where J1 and J2 are two different exchange pathways in the cubane {Cu4O4} core. The crystal structures of 2 * 6 H2O and 3 * 2 H2O * THF show the presence of channels containing the lattice solvent molecules.

A tetranuclear cyano-bridged [{Ni(HL3)}{W(CN)8}]2 compound in a square geometry was formed by self-assembling of {W(CN)8}3- and {NiL3}2+ (L3=pentadentate ligand). The structure of the compound has been established by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The coordination sphere of the Ni ions is severely distorted with the macrocyclic ligand adopting a facial coordination with only four linkages to the metal center. The N atom of the pendant aminopropyl arm of L3 is no longer coordinated to the metal center but has undergone protonation during the assembling process. Magnetic measurements have revealed an unexpected antiferromagnetic behavior (J=-9 cm(-1)), which has been explained using a microscopic many-body electronic model Hamiltonian, based on DFT results. The many-body model is used to fit both the chiMT versus T and the M versus H plots obtained from experiments.