A Material Showing Colossal Positive and Negative Volumetric Thermal Expansion with Hysteretic Magnetic Transition

It is an ongoing challenge to design and synthesize magnetic materials that undergo colossal thermal expansion and that possess potential applications as microscale or nanoscale actuators with magnetic functionality. A paramagnetic metallocyanate building block was used to construct a cyanide-bridged Fe-Co complex featuring both positive and negative colossal volumetric thermal-expansion behavior. A detailed study revealed that metal-to-metal charge transfer between 180 and 240 K induced a volumetric thermal expansion coefficient of 1498 MK⁻¹ accompanied with hysteretic spin transition. Rotation of the magnetic building blocks induced change of π⋅⋅⋅π interactions, resulting in a negative volume expansion coefficient of −489 MK⁻¹, and another hysteretic magnetic transition between 300 and 350 K. This work presents a strategy for incorporating both colossal positive and negative volumetric thermal expansion with shape and magnetic memory effects in a material.