Nanoscale materials have raised considerable interest in basic research as well as potential industrial applications due to their broad range of novel and enhanced properties. As an important family of nanoscale materials, heterostructured magnetic nanoparticles with e.g., core-shell, dumbbell, or dimer architectures have attracted increasing attention. This is because of their unique functionalities, arising from the synergetic combination of interesting physical properties in the same nano-entity, which leads to appealing applications in widespread fields (such as permanent magnets, biomedical, shielding or catalysis). Notably, one of the major challenges in the synthesis of complex multiphase nanoscale materials is how to design and prepare the chosen structure with desired multi-functionality. Despite the advances in chemical synthesis of nanoparticles allowing the fine controlof size, composition, shape and crystallinity, the synthesis of heterostructured particles, particularly of dissimilar types of materials (e.g., metal oxide) still remains a challenge.
The symposium is aimed at highlighting the complexity of the magnetic behavior of heterostructured magnetic systems (e.g., core-shell, heterodimer, dumbbell geometries and so on) and their prospective applications. Furthermore, we want to stress the advances in chemical synthesis routes as well as the important role of advanced characterization techniques in understanding the magnetic properties of these structures.The synthesis, magnetic properties and applications of complex metal and metal oxide based nanoparticles will be the focus of this symposium.