On-surface magnetochemistry and spintronics II

Organic molecules are multifunctional materials that are promising for many technological applications. They are cheap materials that can be mass-produced and their functionalities can moreover easily be tailor-made by chemical synthesis. Therefore they are ideally suited for achieving the goal of sustainable development. Spin-bearing metalorganic molecules provide a unique platform for exploiting in addition spin properties, leading to molecular spintronics and on-surface magnetochemistry, an emergent area in which adsorption/desorption of an extraneous molecule is employed to realize reversible switching of the molecule’s spin.

To prepare the way for spin-switchable single-molecule electronic devices, fundamental investigations are required to establish how spin manipulation of spin-bearing molecules can be achieved. To this goal, we use density-functional-theory-based methodologies to study computationally magnetic planar metalorganic molecules adsorbed on substrates, such as porphyrins and phthalocyanines, as well as three-dimensional spin-crossover materials. Our ab initio calculations provide valuable, novel insight into the microscopic origins of molecular spin polarization and reveal promising routes to achieve active control over the spin in future molecular spintronic applications.

Link to On-surface magnetochemistry and spintronics webpage.

Name of Biplab’s project [Link to Biplab’s page]