Magnetic Fingerprints in an All-Organic Radical Molecular Break Junction

Magnetic Fingerprints in an All-Organic Radical Molecular Break Junction

Baum, T.Y. (TU Delft QN/van der Zant Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)
Fernández, Saleta (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
Peña, Diego (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
van der Zant, H.S.J. (TU Delft QN/van der Zant Lab; Kavli institute of nanoscience Delft)

2022

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons radicals are organic molecules with a nonzero total magnetic moment. Here, we report on charge-transport experiments with bianthracene-based radicals using a mechanically controlled break junction technique at low temperatures (6 K). The conductance spectra demonstrate that the magnetism of the diradical is preserved in solid-state devices and that it manifests itself either in the form of a Kondo resonance or inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy signature caused by spin-flip processes. The magnetic fingerprints depend on the exact configuration of the molecule in the junction; this picture is supported by reference measurements on a radical molecule with the same backbone but with one free spin, in which only Kondo anomalies are observed. The results show that the open-shell structures based on the bianthracene core are interesting systems to study spin-spin interactions in solid-state devices, and this may open the way to control them either electrically or by mechanical strain.

inelastic spin-flip spectroscopy
Kondo effect
mechanically controlled break junction
molecular electronics
open-shell polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
organic radical

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f474ba83-6eb8-4ae8-8dd0-a6c0043deaf5

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c02326

1530-6984

Nano Letters: a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology, 22 (20), 8086-8092

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2022 T.Y. Baum, Saleta Fernández, Diego Peña, H.S.J. van der Zant