Solvent effects on the adsorption and self-organization of Mn12 on Au(111).
A sulfur-containing single molecule magnet, [Mn12O12(O2CC6H4SCH3)16(H2O)4], was assembled from solution on a Au(111) surface affording both submonolayer and monolayer coverages. The adsorbate morphology and the degree of coverage were inspected by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) allowed the determination of the chemical nature of the adsorbate on a qualitative and quantitative basis. The properties of the adsorbates were found to be strongly dependent on the solvent used to dissolve the magnetic complex. In particular, systems prepared from tetrahydrofuran solutions gave arrays of isolated and partially ordered clusters on the gold substrate, while samples prepared from dichloromethane exhibited a homogeneous monolayer coverage of the whole Au(111) surface. These findings are relevant to the optimization of magnetic addressing of single molecule magnets on surfaces.
Pineider
Francesco
F
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Firenze and INSTM, Via della, Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Mannini
Matteo
M
Sessoli
Roberta
R
Caneschi
Andrea
A
Barreca
Davide
D
Armelao
Lidia
L
Cornia
Andrea
A
Tondello
Eugenio
E
Gatteschi
Dante
D