A plastic magnet is a non-metallic magnet made from an organic polymer. One example is PANiCNQ, which is a combination of emeraldine-based polyaniline (PANi) and tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). When it was created by researchers Dr. Naveed Zaidi, at the University of Durham in 2004 it was the first magnetic polymer to function at room temperature.
PANi is a conductive polymer that is stable in air. When combined with the free radical-forming TCNQ as an acceptor molecule, it can mimic the mechanism of metallic magnets. The magnetic properties arise from the fully pi-conjugated nitrogen-containing backbone combined with molecular charge transfer side groups. These properties cause the molecule to have a high density of localized spins that can give rise to coupling of their magnetic fields. When this polymer magnet is synthesized, the polymer chains need 3 months to line up before displaying any notable magnetism.
Plastic magnets could have uses in computer hardware, for example as disc drives and in medical devices such as pacemakers and cochlear implants where the organic material is more likely to be biocompatible than its metallic counterpart.
In February 2002, researchers from Ohio State University & University of Utah developed the world's first light-tunable plastic magnet. The plastic material became 1.5 times more magnetic when blue light shines on it. Green laser light reversed the effect somewhat, by decreasing the material's magnetism to 60 percent of its normal level. The plastic magnet was made from a polymer made of tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) combined with manganese (Mn) ions -- atoms of the metal manganese with electrons removed. The magnet functioned up to a temperature of 75 K (about -200ºC, or -325ºF).
Famous quotes containing the words plastic and/or magnet:
“The site of the true bottomless financial pit is the toy store. It’s amazing how much a few pieces of plastic and paper will sell for if the purchasers are parents or grandparent, especially when the manufacturers claim their product improves a child’s intellectual or physical development.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“It has lately been drawn to your correspondent’s attention that, at social gatherings, she is not the human magnet she would be. Indeed, it turns out that as a source of entertainment, conviviality, and good fun, she ranks somewhere between a sprig of parsley and a single ice- skate. It would appear, from the actions of the assembled guests, that she is about as hot company as a night nurse.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)