Mössbauer spectroscopy of a monolayer of single molecule magnets

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-02840-w
• Publication Date: 2018-01-29T22:11:32Z
• Authors: Alberto Cini; Matteo Mannini; Federico Totti; Maria Fittipaldi; Gabriele Spina; Aleksandr Chumakov; Rudolf Rüffer; Andrea Cornia; Roberta Sessoli
• Keywords: [PHYS]Physics [physics]; Science; Q; Self assembled monolayer, iron, Moessbauer spectroscopy, single molecule magnet, ab initio calculations; Mössbauer Spectroscopy, Synchrotron, Density Functional Theory, Iron, Single Molecule Magnets; 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy; Article

The use of single molecule magnets (SMMs) as cornerstone elements in spintronics and quantum computing applications demands that magnetic bistability is retained when molecules are interfaced with solid conducting surfaces. Here, we employ synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy to investigate a monolayer tetrairon(III) (Fe4) SMM chemically grafted on gold substrate. At low temperature zero field, observe the pattern Fe4 molecule, indicating slow spin fluctuations compared timescale. Significant structural deformations core, induced by interaction substrate, predicted ab initio molecular dynamics, also observed. However, effects modifications occurring at individual iron sites partially compensate each other, so relaxation surface. Interestingly, these escaped detection conventional synchrotron-based techniques, like X-ray circular dichroism, thus highlighting power for investigation hybrid interfaces.