Scientists have developed a device to make magnetism appear in non-magnetic materials.

Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and ICMAB have achieved a groundbreaking development in wireless technology for magnetic devices. 

In recent tests, they successfully induced and controlled magnetic properties in non-magnetic cobalt nitride layers using voltage, without requiring direct electrical connections.

This innovation opens the door to creating magnetic nanorobots for biomedicine and wire-free computing systems.

In the realm of electronic devices, manipulating electrical and magnetic properties is crucial for various applications. 

Voltage-based control of magnetism has gained importance due to its potential to enhance energy efficiency while reducing heating issues caused by electric currents. Until now, research focused on applying voltage through direct electrical connections.

The research team, composed of UAB's Department of Physics and ICMAB members, collaborated with the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona CNM-CSIC and the ALBA synchrotron to modify the magnetic properties of a thin cobalt nitride (CoN) layer using wireless voltage control. 

They placed the magnetic material in an ionic conductive liquid and applied voltage to the liquid through platinum plates without direct wiring. 

This induced an electric field that triggered the emergence of magnetism in the CoN sample, transforming it from non-magnetic to magnetic. 

Researchers can adjust these induced magnetic properties based on voltage, actuation time, and sample orientation, achieving temporary or permanent changes in magnetism.

This wireless magnetic control could represent a paradigm shift. 

It has vast potential applications in biomedicine, enabling wire-free control of nanorobots' magnetic properties, and in wireless computing for writing and erasing information in magnetic memories using voltage without wiring.

The wireless magnetic control methodology is not limited to cobalt nitride but can be extended to other materials for wireless control of various physical properties, such as superconductivity, memristor control, catalysis, insulator-to-metal transitions, and wireless electrodes for neuronal electrostimulation.

The research was published in Nature Communications.