Room temperature soft ferromagnetism in the nanocrystalline form of YCo2 - a well-known bulk Pauli paramagnet

TL;DR

This study reveals that nanocrystalline YCo2, previously known as a paramagnet in bulk form, exhibits room temperature ferromagnetism with significant magnetic moments, opening new avenues for applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that nanocrystalline YCo2 transitions from a paramagnet to a ferromagnet at room temperature, a novel behavior not observed in its bulk form.

Findings

Nanocrystalline YCo2 is ferromagnetic at room temperature.

The saturation magnetic moment is about 1 Bohr-magneton per formula unit.

The ferromagnetism is not limited to surface effects.

Abstract

The Laves phase compound, YCo2, is a well-known exchange-enahnced Pauli paramagnet. We report here that, in the nanocrystalline form, this compound interestingly is an itinerant ferromagnet at room temperature with a low coercive-field. The magnitude of the saturation moment (about 1 Bohr-magneton per formula unit) is large enough to infer that the ferromagnetism is not a surface phenomenon in these nanocrystallites. Since these ferromagnetic nanocrystallines are easy to synthesize with a stable form in air, one can explore applications, particularly where hysteresis is a disadvantage.