ADDMAG project: a new perspective for molecular magnets

BCMaterials will develop the ADDMAG project (Additive Manufacturing of Molecule-based Magnets) over the next two years, financed by the Department of Education of the Basque Government through the PIBA program for basic and/or applied research projects.

ADDMAG aims to lay the foundations for a new generation of molecular magnets that operate at high temperatures (that is, above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, the minimum recommended for applications) and to study methodologies to implement them in existing technologies. Magnets based on pure metals, metal oxides and alloys are used in a multitude of devices, from mobile phones to wind turbines.

The target compounds will consist of coordination polymers with low cost redox active ligands and abundant metal ions. The project seeks to dispense with conflicting materials such as rare earths, common in current magnets. At the same time, the process of creating these magnets will have a lower environmental impact.

During its first phase, the project will work to improve the synthesis processes. The synthetic strategy to be used will allow the combination of two properties of technological interest, magnetism and electrical conductivity, in a single compound, providing scientific interest and additional technological possibilities to the resulting materials.

In the second phase, the compounds will be functionalized to make them compatible with additive manufacturing technologies. This will make it easier to manufacture materials with specific shapes and properties for better integration into specific high-value applications.