We have investigated the magnetic properties of CuNCN, the first nitrogen-based analog of cupric oxide CuO. Our muon-spin relaxation, nuclear magnetic resonance, and electron-spin resonance studies reveal that classical magnetic ordering is absent down to the lowest temperatures. However, a large enhancement of spin correlations and an unexpected inhomogeneous magnetism have been observed below 80 K. We attribute this to a peculiar fragility of the electronic state against weak perturbations due to geometrical frustration, which selects between competing spin-liquid and more conventional frozen states.

Carbodiimides for batteries: the family of transition-metal carbodiimides MNCN (M = Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) are shown to be new electrochemically active materials through displacement reactions both for lithium and sodium ion batteries.

Ultrathin iron films grown on Cu(100) have been found to exhibit a rich variety of structural and magnetic phases. In the present work, Fe/Ni bilayers have been prepared by molecular beam epitaxy to explore novel magnetic phenomena introduced by the ferromagnetic (FM) Ni underlayer. Unusual properties have been observed by measuring the temperature dependent magnetic properties. For 5.3 ML Fe on 7 ML Ni, a temperature dependent exchange coupling in the Fe film has been observed between the FM surface layer and FM interface layer.