Unusual structure and magnetism in manganese oxide nanoclusters

We report an unusual evolution of structure and magnetism in stoichiometric MnO clusters based on an extensive and unbiased search through the potential-energy surface within density functional theory. The smaller clusters, containing up to five MnO units, adopt two-dimensional structures; and regar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ganguly, Shreemoyee, Kabir, Mohammad Mukul, Sanyal, Biplab, Mookerjee, Abhijit
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Physical Society 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/63154
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3230-280X
Description
Summary:We report an unusual evolution of structure and magnetism in stoichiometric MnO clusters based on an extensive and unbiased search through the potential-energy surface within density functional theory. The smaller clusters, containing up to five MnO units, adopt two-dimensional structures; and regardless of the size of the cluster, magnetic coupling is found to be antiferromagnetic in contrast to previous theoretical findings. Predicted structure and magnetism are strikingly different from the magnetic core of Mn-based molecular magnets, whereas, they were previously argued to be similar. Both of these features are explained through the inherent electronic structures of the clusters.