Recent demonstrations of magnetization switching induced by in-plane current in heavy metal/ferromagnetic heterostructures (HMFHs) have drawn great attention to spin torques arising from large spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Given the intrinsic strong SOC, topological insulators (TIs) are expected to be promising candidates for exploring spin-orbit torque (SOT)-related physics. Here we demonstrate experimentally the magnetization switching through giant SOT induced by an in-plane current in a chromium-doped TI bilayer heterostructure. The critical current density required for switching is below 8.9 × 10(4) A cm(-2) at 1.9 K. Moreover, the SOT is calibrated by measuring the effective spin-orbit field using second-harmonic methods. The effective field to current ratio and the spin-Hall angle tangent are almost three orders of magnitude larger than those reported for HMFHs. The giant SOT and efficient current-induced magnetization switching exhibited by the bilayer heterostructure may lead to innovative spintronics applications such as ultralow power dissipation memory and logic devices.

Reversible oxygen conversion is important for various green energy technologies. Herein we synthesize a series of bimetallic coordination polymers by varying the Ni/Co ratio and using HITP (HITP=2,3,6,7,10,11‐hexaiminotriphenylene) as the ligand, to interrogate the role of metal centres in modulating the activity of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Co3HITP2 and Ni3HITP2 are compared. Unpaired 3d electrons in Co3HITP2 result in less coplanarity but more radical character. Thus, despite of a reduced crystallinity and conductivity, the best ORR activity, comparable to 20 % Pt/C, is obtained for Co3HITP2, showing the 3d orbital configuration of the metal centre promotes ORR. Experimental and DFT studies show a transition of ORR pathway from four‐electron for Co3HITP2 to two‐electron for Ni3HITP2. Rechargeable zinc–air batteries using Co3HITP2 as the air cathode catalyst demonstrate excellent energy efficiency and stability.

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We demonstrate strain-induced modulation of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in (001)-oriented [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3](1−x)-[PbTiO3]x (PMN-PT) substrate/Ta/CoFeB/MgO/Ta structures using ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). An in-plane biaxial strain is produced by applying voltage between the two surfaces of the PMN-PT substrate, and is transferred to the ferromagnetic CoFeB layer, which results in tuning of the PMA of the CoFeB layer. The strain-induced change in PMA is quantitatively extracted from the experimental FMR spectra. It is shown that both first and second-order anisotropy terms are affected by the electric field, and that they have opposite voltage dependencies. A very large value of the voltage-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy modulation of ∼7000 fJ/V·m is obtained through this strain-mediated coupling. Using this FMR technique, the magnetostriction coefficient λ is extracted for the ultrathin 1.1 nm Co20Fe60B20 layer, and is found to be 3.7 × 10−5, which is approximately 4 times larger than the previously reported values for CoFeB films thicker than 5 nm. In addition, the effect of strain on the effective damping constant (αeff) is also studied and no obvious modulation of the αeff is observed. The results are relevant to the development of CoFeB-MgO magnetic tunnel junctions for memory applications.