Abstract

A new field of molecular electronics is emerging, that combines the ideas and the advantages of spintronics and molecular electronics1. The key point is the creation of molecular devices using single molecular magnets (SMM)2. These systems, that exhibit the advantages of the slow relaxation of the magnetization processes and quantum effects, look attractive for information technology. In this context, the organization of individual molecules on surfaces is a necessary step to develop molecular memory arrays. However there are few examples of SMM on substrate3 and also, they are limited by organic ligands4. In this work we study different organic ligands on Au (111) substrates. Anchoring these systems on conducting surfaces is required to make them individually addressable by scanning tunneling microscope (STM), for high-resolution morphological studies and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), for high-resolution chemical characterization. These studies open up the possibility to coordinate the molecular systems with different metals and design new SMM for future spintronics devices applications. We acknowledge contributions from FONDECYT 1110206 and ANILLO project ACT1117 “Programa interdisciplinario de nanomateriales y sistemas moleculares”. 1 Bogani L. and Wernsdorfer W., Nat. Mat. 7, 179-186 (2008). 2 Christou, G., et al. Mater. Res. Soc. Bull. 25, 66–71 (2000). (b) Gatteschi D., Sessoli, R. and Villain, J. Molecular Nanomagnets (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 2007). 3(a) Corina A., et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 42, 1645 – 1648 (2003). (b) Mannini M., Nat. Mat. 8, 194-197 (2009). 4 (a) Gao H., et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 106402 (2007). Gopakumar T. G., et al., Angew. Chem. 51, 6262-6266 (2012).