Magnetochemistry, Volume 7, Issue 1 (January 2021) – 16 articles

We numerically investigate the dynamics of a pair of circular Janus microparticles immersed in a Newtonian fluid under a simple shear flow and a uniform magnetic field by direct numerical simulation. Using the COMSOL software, we applied the finite element method, based on an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian approach, and analyzed the dynamics of two anisotropic particles (i.e., one-half is paramagnetic, and the other is non-magnetic) due to the center-to-center distance, magnetic field strength, initial particle orientation, and configuration. This article considers two configurations: the LR-configuration (magnetic material is on the left side of the first particle and on the right side of the second particle) and the RL-configuration (magnetic material is on the right side of the first particle and on the left side of the second particle). For both configurations, a critical orientation determines if the particles either attract (below the critical) or repel (above the critical) under a uniform magnetic field. How well the particles form a chain depends on the comparison between the viscous and magnetic forces. For long particle distances, the viscous force separates the particles, and the magnetic force causes them to repel as the particle orientation increases above the configuration’s critical value. As the initial distance decreases, a chain formation is possible at a steady orientation, but is more feasible for the RL-configuration than the LR-configuration under the same circumstances. Full article

The assessment of primary calibrator purity is critical for establishing traceability to the International System of Units (SI). Recently, quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) has been used as a purity determination method for reference material development, and many related measurement techniques have been designed to acquire accurate and reliable results. This review introduces the recent advances in these techniques (including multidimensional methods), focusing on the application of qNMR to reference material preparation. Full article

Ag/TiO₂ thin films were prepared using the sol-gel spin coating method. The microstructural growth behaviors of the prepared Ag/TiO₂ thin films were elucidated using real-time synchrotron radiation imaging, its structure was determined using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), its morphology was imaged using the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and its surface topography was examined using the atomic force microscope (AFM) in contact mode. The cubical shape was detected and identified as Ag, while the anatase, TiO₂ thin film resembled a porous ring-like structure. It was found that each ring that coalesced and formed channels occurred at a low annealing temperature of 280 °C. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) result revealed a small amount of Ag presence in the Ag/TiO₂ thin films. From the in-situ synchrotron radiation imaging, it was observed that as the annealing time increased, the growth of Ag/TiO₂ also increased in terms of area and the number of junctions. The growth rate of Ag/TiO₂ at 600 s was 47.26 µm²/s, and after 1200 s it decreased to 11.50 µm²/s and 11.55 µm²/s at 1800 s. Prolonged annealing will further decrease the growth rate to 5.94 µm²/s, 4.12 µm²/s and 4.86 µm²/s at 2400 s, 3000 s and 3600 s, respectively. Full article

LaFe${}_{13-x}$Si${}_x$ compounds exhibit a giant magnetocaloric effect and they are considered as a good magnetocaloric working substance for an environmentally friendly cooling technique. Nevertheless as the Curie temperature $T_C$ is around 200 K, it is necessary to tune $T_C$ near room temperature for magnetic refrigeration. In this work we present a review of the various methods of synthesis and shaping of the LaFe${}_{13-x}$Si${}_x$ type compounds as well as the influence of chemical substitution, light element insertion or combination of both on $T_C$, magnetic entropy and adiabatic temperature variation ($\Delta S_{\mathrm{M}}$ and $\Delta T_{\mathrm{ad}}$), and stability upon cycling. The advantages and drawbacks of each method of preparation and type of element substitution/insertion are discussed. The implementation of these NaZn${}_{13}$ type materials in active magnetic refrigerator is presented and their performances are compared to that of Gd in prototypes. Full article

This paper reports the syntheses, crystal structures and magnetic properties of Mn(III) hexadentate Schiff base complexes [Mn(4-OH-sal-N-1,5,8,12)]NO₃(1) and [Mn(4-OH-sal-N-1,5,8,12)]ClO₄(2), where (4-OH-sal-N-1,5,8,12)²⁻ (4,4′-((1E,13E)-2,6,9,13-tetraazatetradeca-1,13-diene-1,14-diyl)bis(3-methoxyphenol) is a new hydroxyl-substituted hexadentate Schiff base ligand. The introduction of the (4-OH-sal-N-1,5,8,12)²⁻ ligand induces more hydrogen bonding interactions, in addition to promoting the formation of intermolecular interactions among the cations. However, the close-packing structures of both complexes lead to their stabilization in the high-spin state in the temperature range of 2−300 K. Full article

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSC/HPCs) of human or few animal species have been studied for over 30 years. However, there is no information about rabbit HSC/HPCs, although they might be a valuable animal model for studying human hematopoietic disorders or could serve as genetic resource for the preservation of animal biodiversity. CD34 marker is commonly used to isolate HSC/HPCs. Due to unavailability of specific anti-rabbit CD34 antibodies, a novel strategy for the isolation and enrichment of rabbit HSC/HPCs was used in this study. Briefly, rabbit bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) were sorted immunomagnetically in order to remove all mature (CD45⁺) cells. The cells were depleted with overall purity about 60–70% and then cultured in a special medium designed for the expansion of CD34⁺ cells. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) analysis confirmed the enrichment of primitive hematopoietic cells, as the expression of CD34 and CD49f increased (p < 0.05) and CD45 decreased (p < 0.001) at the end of culture in comparison to fresh BMMCs. However, cell culture still exhibited the presence of CD45⁺ cells, as identified by flow cytometry. After gating on CD45⁻ cells the MHCI⁺MHCII⁻CD38⁺CD49f⁺CD90⁻CD117⁻ phenotype was observed. In conclusion, rabbit HSC/HPCs might be isolated and enriched by the presented method. However, further optimization is still required. Full article

In this study, a novel computational method capable of reproducing hysteresis loops of hard magnetic materials is proposed. It is conceptually based on the classical Preisach model but has a completely different approach in the modeling of the hysteron effect. Indeed, the change in magnetization caused by a single hysteron is compared here to the change in velocity of two disk-shaped solids elastically colliding with each other rather than the effect of ideal geometrical entities giving rise to so-called Barkhausen jumps. This allowed us to obtain a simple differential formulation for the global magnetization equation with a significant improvement in terms of computational performance. A sensitivity analysis on the parameters of the proposed method has indeed shown the capability to model a large class of hysteresis loops. Moreover, the proposed method permits modeling of the temperature effect on magnetization of neodymium magnets, which is a key point for the design of electrical machines. Therefore, application of the proposed method to the hysteresis loop of a real NdFeB magnet has been proven to be very accurate and efficient for a large temperature range. Full article

The properties of amorphous geopolymer with silica fume addition after heat treatment was rarely reported in the geopolymer field. Geopolymer was prepared by mixing fly ash and alkali activator. The silica fume was added in 2% and 4% by weight. The geopolymer samples were cured at room temperature for 28 days before exposed to an elevated temperature up to 1000 °C. The incorporation of 2% silica fume did not cause significant improvement in the compressive strength of unexposed geopolymer. Higher silica fume content of 4% reduced the compressive strength of the unexposed geopolymer. When subjected to elevated temperature, geopolymer with 2% silica fume retained higher compressive strength at 1000 °C. The addition of silica fume in fly ash geopolymer caused a lower degree of shrinkage and expansion, as compared to geopolymer without the addition of silica fume. Crystalline phases of albite and magnetite were formed in the geopolymer at 1000 °C. Full article

Herein, we report the magnetic and photoluminescence characterization of coordination polymers (CP) built from the combination of lanthanide(III) ions, pyrimidine-4,6-dicarboxylate (pmdc) ligand and a co-ligand with formula {[Dy(μ-pmdc)(μ-ox)_0.5(H₂O)₃]·2H₂O}_n (1-Dy), {[Dy(μ₃-pmdc)(μ-ox)_0.5(H₂O)₂] ~2.33H₂O}_n (2-Dy), {[Dy₂(μ₃-pmdc)(μ₄-pmdc)(μ-ox)(H₂O)₃]·5H₂O}_n (3-Dy), {[Ln(μ₃-pmdc)(μ-ox)_0.5(H₂O)₂]·H₂O}_n (where Ln(III) = Nd (4-Nd), Sm (4-Sm), Eu (4-Eu) and Dy (4-Dy)) and {[Dy(μ₄-pmdc)(NO₃)(H₂O)]·H₂O}_n (5-Dy). It must be noted the presence of oxalate anion acting as ditopic co-ligand in compounds 1-Dy, 2-Dy, 3-Dy and 4-Ln, whereas in 5-Dy the nitrate anion plays the role of terminal co-ligand. Direct current measurements carried out for the dysprosium-based CPs reveal almost negligible interactions between Dy³⁺ ions within the crystal structure, which is confirmed by computed values of the exchange parameters J. In addition, alternating current measurements show field-induced single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior in compounds 1-Dy, 2-Dy, 4-Dy and 5-Dy, whereas slight-frequency dependence is also observed in 3-Dy. Solid state emission spectra performed at room temperature for those compounds emitting in visible region confirm the occurrence of significant ligand-to-lanthanide charge transfer in view of the strong characteristic emissions for all lanthanide ions. Emission decay curves were also recorded to estimate the emission lifetimes for the reported compounds, in addition to the absolute quantum yields. Among them, the high quantum yield of 25.0% measured for 4-Eu is to be highlighted as a representative example of the good emissive properties of the materials. Full article

In this paper, the behavior of a ferromagnetic material is considered in the framework of microstructural modeling. The equations describing the behavior of such material in the magnetic field, are constructed based on minimization of total magnetic energy with account of limitations imposed on the spontaneous magnetization vector and scalar magnetic potential. This conditional extremum problem is reduced to the unconditional extremum problem using the Lagrange multiplier. A variational (weak) formulation is written down and linearization of the obtained equations is carried out. Based on the derived relations a solution of a two-dimensional problem of magnetization of a unit cell (a grain of a polycrystal or a single crystal of a ferromagnetic material) is developed using the finite element method. The appearance of domain walls is demonstrated, their thickness is determined, and the history of their movement and collision is described. The graphs of distributions of the magnetization vector in domains and in domain walls in the external magnetic field directed at different angles to the anisotropy axis are constructed and the magnetization curves for a macrospecimen are plotted. The results obtained in the present paper (the thickness of the domain wall, the formation of a 360-degree wall) are in agreement with the ones available in the current literature. Full article

As a kind of promising material for a Faraday isolator used in the visible and near infrared range, Dy₂O₃ transparent ceramics were prepared by vacuum sintering from the nano-powders synthesized by the liquid precipitation method using ammonium hydrogen carbonate as precipitant with no sintering aids. The synthesized precursor was calcinated at 950 °C–1150 °C for 4 h in air. The influences of the calcination temperature on the morphologies and phase composition of Dy₂O₃ powders were characterized. It is found that the Dy₂O₃ powder calcinated at 1000 °C for 4 h is superior for the fabrication of Dy₂O₃ ceramics. The Dy₂O₃ transparent ceramic sample prepared by vacuum sintering at 1850 °C for 10 h, and subsequently with air annealing at 1400 °C for 10 h, from the 1000 °C-calcined Dy₂O₃ powders, presents the best optical quality. The values of in-line transmittance of the optimal ceramic specimen with the thickness of 1.0 mm are 75.3% at 2000 nm and 67.9% at 633 nm. The Verdet constant of Dy₂O₃ ceramics was measured to be −325.3 ± 1.9 rad/(T·m) at 633 nm, about 2.4 times larger than that of TGG (Tb₃Ga₅O₁₂) single crystals. Full article

Xerostomia is a common adverse effect of radiation therapy at the head and neck area. Radiation-induced xerostomia can be severe and detrimental for the quality of life. Clinicians and radiologists have focused on the prevention of xerostomia as feasible, which has been significantly improved in the recent decades with the use of the contemporary radiation technology. However, radiation-induced xerostomia still remains one of the most devastating side effects of radiation therapy. Clinical risk factors have been identified, but the variation of its incidence and presentation has turned the focus on the investigation of parameters that would be able to predict the onset of acute or chronic xerostomia for each individual patient. Recently, potential imaging parameters and biomarkers are investigated in order for early prediction of the incidence and severity of xerostomia. Here, we compile the resulting imaging biomarkers as have been identified in the recent literature based on MRI and CT performed in correlation with radiation therapy. The identification of such biomarkers is very promising for the prevention and control of xerostomia in the head and neck radiation setting. Full article

This paper describes two cases of interaction between a quantized electromagnetic field and two different XY spin molecules; one with spins ½, and the other with spins 1. Both interact with a quantized electromagnetic field, with one of the spins in the chain interacting with the electromagnetic field. The interaction between the field mode and the spin chain with spins 1 is described by the one- and two-photon Jaynes-Cummings model (JC model). On the other hand, the interaction between the spins ½ and the electromagnetic field is described only by the one-photon Jaynes-Cummings model. Analytical and numerical calculations were made for the case of a different number of photons in the field mode, a different number of spins, and a different position of spin, interacting with the electromagnetic field. The invariant and block structures of such a chain are shown with a comparison made between the evolution of the magnetic moment and the number of photons in both cases. Full article

The combination of an androstane-3,17-diol nucleus and a 2β-N-alkylamidopiperazino sidechain is important for the anticancer activity of a new family of steroid derivatives. As the structure-activity relationship studies have so far been limited to the beta orientation of the substituent at position 2 of the steroid nucleus, a series of analogs (compounds 1–4) were synthesized to investigate the impact on biological activity of A-ring substitution. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis, especially using a series of 2D experiments, such as correlation spectroscopy (COSY), homonuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY), heteronuclear single-quantum correlation (HSQC), and heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation (HMBC) provided crucial information that was found essential in confirming the sidechain position and orientation of compounds 1–4. Assessment of their antiproliferative activity on leukemia HL-60 cells confirmed the best efficiency of the 2β-sidechain/3α-OH orientation (compound 1) compared to the other configurations tested (compounds 2–4). Full article

Periodical transformation of ferroin to ferriin is accompanied by changes in magnetic properties of liquids during Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction malonic acid, sodium bromide, sodium bromate, ferroin, and sulfuric acid. Instead of the earlier studied oscillation of microwave conductivity accompanying an oscillating reaction, we propose a flash technique to interrupt the BZ reaction by rapid freezing. Rapid cooling of a solution during chemical oscillations results in a frozen system with a fixed concentration of paramagnetic centers Fe³⁺. EPR spectrum recorded at different stages of the interrupted reaction corresponds to the exact concentration of the ferroin and ferriin components. Following unfreezing unblocks the BZ reaction, and oscillations are still observed. A simulated spectrum allows one to distinguish two groups of Fe³⁺ ions of different symmetries. The obtained results are important to explain the earlier observed effect of inhomogeneous magnetic field on BZ reaction front velocity. Full article

Single-molecule magnets involving monometallic 4f complexes have been investigated extensively in last two decades to understand the factors that govern the slow magnetization relaxation behavior in these complexes and to establish a magneto-structural correlation. The prime goal in this direction is to suppress the temperature independent quantum tunneling of magnetization (QTM) effect via fine-tuning the coordination geometry/microenvironment. Among the various coordination geometries that have been pursued, complexes containing high coordination number around Ln(III) are sparse. Herein, we present a summary of the various synthetic strategies that were used for the assembly of 10- and 12-coordinated Ln(III) complexes. The magnetic properties of such complexes are also described. Full article