Materials Science and Nanotechnology

Magnetomigration of rare-earth ions in strong magnetic fields

International Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
October 09-10, 2017 London, UK

Isadora R Rodrigues, Liubov Lukina, Sam Dehaeck, Pierre Colinet, Koen Binnemans and Jan Fransaer

KU Leuven, Belgium

Scientific Tracks Abstracts : Materials Science and Nanotechnology

Abstract:

The use of magnetic fields to manipulate macroscale particles is a well-known method applied to the separation of magnetic materials. The energy of paramagnetic species exposed to an external magnetic field decreases as the magnetic force pulls them towards stronger magnetic fields. The opposite occurs for diamagnetic species, which tends to move to regions with weaker fields. Encouraging results are found in the recent literature for the magnetic separation of paramagnetic ions. However, the effect of external magnetic fields on small molecules and ions is rather controversial. The magnetically induced movement of single ions in solution is likely to be overpowered by the high kinetic energy of the system due to Brownian collisions. In the present work, Mach-Zehnder interferometry (MZI) was used to study the magnetomigration of rare-earth (RE) ions. Two RE ions were selected for the experiments based on their distinct magnetic properties: the strong paramagnetic Dy3+ (magnetic susceptibilities χ>0) and the diamagnetic Y3+ (magnetic susceptibilities χ<0). No migration of ions was found for a thermodynamically closed system when a perfectly homogeneous solution was subjected to an external magnetic field. However, when a concentration gradient was introduced in the sample by solvent evaporation, consistent migration of paramagnetic Dy3+ ions was observed, from the bulk solution to regions with stronger magnetic fields (Figure 1a-b). By contrast, no movement was detected for diamagnetic Y3+ ions, notwithstanding the presence of a concentration gradient.

Biography:

Isadora R Rodrigues obtained a Master’s degree in Chemistry in 2010, at the University of Montreal, Canada. The topic of her thesis was the synthesis and characterization of cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. In 2016, she joined the Department of Material Engineering at KU Leuven University (Belgium), to start her PhD on the topic of Magnetic Separation of Rare-Earth Ions. She is author (or co-author) of 6 publications in international journals.

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