A project led by Dublin based material scientists has discovered almost two dozen new magnets which could prove useful in the production of low cost and high performance electronics.
In total the team at the Amber research centre at Trinity College Dublin, working with international collaborators, has found 22 substances with magnetic properties using advanced computer simulations.
The method allowed them to predict the chemical composition of the new magnets without having to make them.
The finding is important because new magnetic materials are difficult to discover with only one per year developed or found on average each year for the past 2,000 years.
Magnets are increasingly being used in electronic devices, such as computers, aerospace craft, electric motors and power generation turbines.
But high-performance magnets are expensive to produce as they require rare Earth elements.
As a result, researchers are trying to develop new cheaper materials with magnetic properties, in many cases for technologies which are still being developed.
The team, led by Amber investigator Professor Stefano Sanvito, used a powerful database to predict the properties of around 300,000 materials, which could then be assessed for their magnetic abilities.
The data also enables the researchers to determine what applications the materials would be most appropriate for.
"In this publication, our team identified 22 new magnets, and one in particular, Co2MnTi, shows real potential for high-tech applications because it displays a very high ordering temperature of about 630 degrees Celsius," said Prof Sanvito.
"This is a remarkable discovery since no more than two dozen magnets remain magnetic at such a high temperature."
"The ordering temperature should be well more than the temperature at which you want to use the magnet, for example, if the magnet is to be used in an electrical motor in a hybrid car, it must be magnetic at the temperature of the engine about 200C."
The research was published in the journal Science Advances.
"In this publication, our team identified 22 new magnets, and one in particular, Co2MnTi, shows real potential for high-tech applications because it displays a very high ordering temperature of about 630 degrees Celsius," said Prof Sanvito.
"This is a remarkable discovery since no more than two dozen magnets remain magnetic at such a high temperature."
"The ordering temperature should be well more than the temperature at which you want to use the magnet, for example, if the magnet is to be used in an electrical motor in a hybrid car, it must be magnetic at the temperature of the engine about 200C."
The research was published in the journal Science Advances.
