Unveiling nickelocene bonding to a noble metal surface

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.93.195403
• Publication Date: 2016-05-02T22:08:40Z
• Authors: N. Bachellier; M. Ormaza; M. Faraggi; B. Verlhac; M. Vérot; T. Le Bahers; M.-L. Bocquet; L. Limot
• Keywords: Nickelocene; Noble metal

The manipulation of a molecular spin state in low-dimensional materials is central to spintronics. designs hybrid devices incorporating magnetic metallocenes are very promising this regard, but hampered by the lack data regarding their interaction with metal. Here, we combine low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations investigate metallocene at single-molecule level---nickelocene. We demonstrate that chemical electronic structures nickelocene preserved upon adsorption on copper surface. Several bonding configurations surface identified, ranging from isolated molecule layers governed van der Waals interactions.