Anomalous Magnetic Properties of MnO Nanoclusters

In this communication, we experimentally report, for the first time, that the MnO nanoclusters with cluster diameters of 5-10 nm show a ferromagnetic behavior with a phase transition from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phases at 27 K even though their bulk phase is antiferromagnetic. We observed large coercivities up to 9500 Oe and a large remanence of 1.72 emu/g at 2 K, which are typically observed values for ferromagnetic materials. Although it is not clear, this abnormal ferromagnetic behavior of MnO nanoclusters may arise from cluster size effects.