IN2UB team synthesizes a bidimensional material with luminescent and magnetic properties

Image of one monolayer of the Dy 2D MOF the material prepared at GMMF. The green polyhedra represent the coordination polyhedra of the Dy centres.
Image of one monolayer of the Dy 2D MOF the material prepared at GMMF. The green polyhedra represent the coordination polyhedra of the Dy centres.
Research
(18/03/2021)

The study of matter at the nanoscale has opened huge possibilities in technological advances towards faster, smaller and more energy-efficient technological devices. In this context, the development of bidimensional (2D) materials poses new challenges but also offers exciting possibilities for the study of physical phenomena and properties at the 2D limit.

Image of one monolayer of the Dy 2D MOF the material prepared at GMMF. The green polyhedra represent the coordination polyhedra of the Dy centres.
Image of one monolayer of the Dy 2D MOF the material prepared at GMMF. The green polyhedra represent the coordination polyhedra of the Dy centres.
Research
18/03/2021

The study of matter at the nanoscale has opened huge possibilities in technological advances towards faster, smaller and more energy-efficient technological devices. In this context, the development of bidimensional (2D) materials poses new challenges but also offers exciting possibilities for the study of physical phenomena and properties at the 2D limit.

Current interest in that kind of materials is concerned mainly with the potential application in ultrathin devices, catalysis, sensing, and magnetism. A team from the Group of Magnetism and Functional Molecules (GMMF) of the Institute of Nanosciences and Nanotechnology of the University of Barcelona (IN2UB) has presented a simple method for the microwave-assisted synthesis of a bidimensional material with magnetic and luminescent properties.

“This new material based on Dysprosium (Dy) -a rare-earth chemical element- has single-ion-magnet behaviour and is the first case of a bifunctional 2D luminescent material. We have developed a extremely simple synthesis method for its preparation. Now the method is being applied in our laboratories to synthesize different 2D materials with tuneable colour emission”, says Eva Carolina Sañudo, member of IN2UB and lecturer at the Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry of the UB.

The material also allows an easy exfoliation into stable nanosheets. According to Sañudo, this possibility “is very promising for further manipulation of the material, for deposition onto different surfaces, to exploit proximity effects on graphene, or the formation of multilayer hetero-nanostructures”..

GMMF is one of the pioneer laboratories in the use of microwave-assisted synthesis in coordination chemistry. Some of the advantages of this technique are the very short reaction times and the isolation of a single, pure product.

This study, published in the journal Angewandte Chimie International Edition, is the result of Jonay Gonzálezʼs degree final project of the master's degree in Applied Materials Chemistry of the UB, was carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry of the UB (IQTCUB), the  University of Zaragoza and the Salesian University School of Sarrià. Also, the microscopy analyses have been carried out at the Scientific and Technological Centres of the UB (CCiTUB).

 

Reference article:

E. C. Sañudo, G. Gabarró-Riera, J. González, P. Sevilla, J. Jover, J. Echeverria, S. Fuentes, A. Arauzo, E. Bartolomé. "A multifunctional Dysprosium‐carboxylato 2D metallorganic framework". Angewandte Chemie, February, 2021. Doi: 10.1002/anie.202100507