The Magnetism of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Spintronics

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) consist of metal nodes and organic linkers by coordinative bonding, which have diverse and fascinating applications including gas storage/separation, catalysis, sensor, and so on. Recent achievements in enhancing MOFs' electrical conductivity have lead MOFs to be also applied toward electronic and energy devices. MOF magnets have been also developed in conjunction with the improved electrical conductivity, and MOFs have been in the limelight as attractive materials for spintronics, which is an emerging field for next-generation nanoelectronics to reduce their power consumption and increase memory-processing capabilities. Thanks to the MOFs' chemically tunable porous structures and rationally designable structures with strong p-d hybridization, MOFs can be a significant component in spintronic devices to support long-lifetime and long-range alignment of spin-polarized electrons. This account gives an overview of the magnetism of MOFs and the recent progress in developing MOFs-based spintronics, and the challenges and future perspectives of MOF-based spintronics are discussed.