Researchers are pushing boundaries by allowing multiferroics to function at elevated temperatures, stretching from room temperature all the way to an impressive 160 degrees Celsius.
Typically, multiferroics are limited to operating at room temperature, but a group of scientists from Tohoku University has demonstrated that terbium oxide Tb2(MoO4)3 can indeed serve as a multiferroic material at 160 ℃.
Materials that stop working during a hot summer day or due to the heat emitted from the device itself face significant limitations in practical use. This represents a critical flaw in multiferroics—substances that exhibit a close interrelationship between magnetism and ferroelectricity. Despite this disadvantage, the unique characteristics of multiferroics continue to draw interest for exploration.
To overcome this limitation and fully realize the potential of multiferroics, the research team examined the material Tb2(MoO4)3. They revealed its essential properties as a multiferroic and successfully manipulated electric polarization using a magnetic field, even at 160 ℃. This marks a significant improvement from the earlier threshold of about 20 ℃. With this critical limitation addressed, the promising discovery suggests that multiferroics could find significant applications in fields such as spintronics, energy-efficient memory devices, and light-emitting diodes.
“This research could open up new possibilities for the development of high-temperature multiferroics,” states Shimon Tajima.
The team engineered this high-temperature multiferroic by integrating two functions: the relationship between electric polarization and physical strain, known as the “piezoelectric effect,” and the relationship between physical strain and magnetization, referred to as the “magnetoelastic effect.” This integration activated the relationship between electric polarization and magnetization, termed the “magnetoelectric effect,” at elevated temperatures. The magnetoelectric effect is regarded as the most beneficial feature of multiferroics.
“We have achieved an increase in the operational temperature of multiferroics, allowing them to function reliably at room temperature and beyond. This advancement could lead to energy-efficient spintronics devices, enhanced optical gadgets, and more,” Tajima adds.
