Small and Smart Magnet Design
Project period: 2013-2017
Society faces an accumulated need to find ways to produce super strong magnets that can fulfill the growing demands for green technology products such as compact and efficient generators and electromotors, preferably using less rare earth elements than today's powerful magnets. Next-generation magnets could very likely be composite materials built bottom-up from nanoparticles. However, combining the nanoparticles into a compact magnetic material where all magnetic moments are aligned is an engineering challenge. This project aims to reveal – with nanoparticle-resolution - assembly-processes and particle arrangements that can generate optimal magnetic order in new materials. These studies are enabled by advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and magnetization studies.