Dr. Matteo Mannini
Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff” & INSTM Ru, University of Firenze, Firenze, Italy.
Thursday, August 30th, 09h00
Due to the wealth and the tuneability of their properties, molecular materials stand out as a possible answer to the needs for innovative technologies. The ensemble of magnetic molecules constitutes a rich playground for chemists and physicists toward the development of novel molecular based devices also because of this possibility to finely tune the device properties through proper design of the molecular structure and the assembling of established building blocks following a rational design. This idea explains the huge efforts of molecular magnetism [1] community in the exploration of the use of magnetic molecules for the development of novel devices for the information and computation technologies including spintronics and quantum computation. However, a migration from classical materials to future molecular-based devices requires a careful evaluation of the chemical and physical properties of those fragile magnetic systems after that nanostructuration processes have been attempted. Large scale facility-based techniques become fundamental for the verification that their electronic and magnetic features survives to the extreme conditions occurring in single-molecule-device-like environments. Going beyond a morphological characterization allowing to “see” isolated molecular objects, intactness of molecules can be evaluated by using surface sensitive techniques that provide a complete overview of the chemical and electronic properties of those systems. X-ray circular magnetic dichroism (XMCD) experiments (eventually coupled with other techniques) lead to fundamental steps forward in this demanding exploration by directly accessing to static and dynamic magnetic properties of those systems down to the nanoscale. Here we will present our most recent results achieved at the nanoscale on single molecule magnets (SMMs), a peculiar family of molecules showing slow relaxation of the magnetization and peculiar quantum-based effects [1]. SMMs can be assembled on surfaces by adopting wet-chemistry approaches or sublimating them using high vacuum compatible techniques [2] and the combination of several characterization tools allows to demonstrate that their magnetic behaviour can be maintained, lost or enhanced by the interaction with surfaces [3-9].
References
[1] D. Gatteschi, R. Sessoli, V. Jacques, Oxford Univ. Press 2006.
[2] A. Cornia and M. Mannini, “Single-Molecule Magnets on Surfaces,” in Molecular Nanomagnets and Related Phenomena, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2015, 293.
[3] M. Mannini, F. Pineider, P. Sainctavit, C. Danieli, E. Otero, C. Sciancalepore, A. M. M. Talarico, M.-A. Arrio, A. Cornia, D. Gatteschi, R. Sessoli, Nat. Mater. 2009, 8, 194.
[4] M. Mannini, F. Pineider, C. Danieli, F. Totti, L. Sorace, P. Sainctavit, M.-A. Arrio, E. Otero, L. Joly, J. C. Cezar, A. Cornia, R. Sessoli, Nature 2010, 468, 417.
[5] M. Mannini, F. Bertani, C. Tudisco, L. Malavolti, L. Poggini, K. Misztal, D. Menozzi, A. Motta, E. Otero, P. Ohresser, P. Sainctavit, G. G. Condorelli, E. Dalcanale, R. Sessoli, Nat. Commun. 2014, 5, 4582.
[6] M. Serri, M. Mannini, L. Poggini, E. Vélez-Fort, B. Cortigiani, P. Sainctavit, D. Rovai, A. Caneschi, R. Sessoli, Nano Lett., 2017,17, 1899.
[7] M. Perfetti, M. Serri, L. Poggini, M. Mannini, D. Rovai, P. Sainctavit, S. Heutz, R. Sessoli, Adv. Mater. 2016, 28, 6946.
[8] A. Pedrini, L. Poggini, C. Tudisco, M. Torelli, A. E. Giuffrida, F. Bertani, I. Cimatti, E. Otero, P. Ohresser, P. Sainctavit, M. Suman, G. G. Condorelli, M. Mannini, E. Dalcanale, Small, 2017, 1702572
[9] A. Cini, M. Mannini, F. Totti, M. Fittipaldi, G. Spina, A. Chumakov, R. Rüffer, A. Cornia, and R. Sessoli Nat. Commun.2018, 9, 480.