Mechanical tuning of room temperature magnetism in flexible manganite/mica heterostructures

Flexible materials have attracted increasing attention due to their potential application in wearable or implantable circuits and systems. Here, the La _0.67Sr _0.33MnO ₃ (LSMO) thin films have been grown on single crystalline mica substrates and the impact of mechanical strain on the magnetic properties is investigated through varying external mechanical bending. The in-plane saturated magnetic moment decreases firstly with increasing radius of curvature (ROC) and then increases after attaining a minimum value of M _S = 187 emu/cm ³ at ROC = 3.0 mm. The nonmonotonous dependence of magnetic moment on ROC can be attributed to the mechanical bending-triggered lateral tensile strain, which can not only enhance the Jahn-Teller splitting and reduce the double-exchange interaction, but also enable the neighboring ferromagnetic domain switching in the LSMO films. Moreover, the out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy can also be reinforced by exerting mechanical tensile strain. Meanwhile, the superior mechanical antifatigue character is found in the LSMO/mica structures. These flexible LSMO thin films with highly tunable magnetism and excellent mechanical durability exhibit promising prospect in designing stable flexible spintronic devices and wearable sensors.