Nature Chemistry: Unique Butterfly-shaped Magnetic Graphene Nanoparticle

An international team of scientists, led by Czech physicists, has successfully developed a unique magnetic nanographene for the first time. They combined two concepts of magnetism and were the first to detect their magnetic signal using advanced scanning electron microscopy and quantum mechanical calculations. Graphene nanoparticles have the potential to be used for information storage and processing in quantum computing.

Research
This schematic image demonstrates the magnetic interaction between the four unpaired electrons located at the corners of the nanographene 'butterfly' and the functionalized tip of the scanning electron microscope with the nickelocene molecule. This interaction allowed for the demonstration of nanographene magnetism.