title: Self-assembled monolayer of Cr7Ni molecular nanomagnets by sublimation.
abstract: We show, by complementary spectroscopic and STM analysis, that Cr(7)Ni derivatives are suitable to be sublimed in UHV conditions. Cr(7)Ni-bu weakly bonds to gold surface and can diffuse relatively freely on it, forming monolayers with hexagonal 2D packing. Conversely, by adding a functional thiol group to the central dibutylamine, a covalent bond between the molecule and surface gold adatoms is promoted, leading to a strong molecular grafting and the formation of a disordered monolayer. These two examples demonstrate the possibility to control the assembly of a large molecular complex, as rationalized by DFT calculations that establish different energy scales in the deposition processes. Moreover, low-temperature XMCD sprectra show that the magnetic features of Cr(7)Ni rings deposited in UHV on gold remain unchanged with respect to those of the corresponding bulk sample.
authors.affiliation: S3 Centre, Institute Nanoscience-CNR, Via G. Campi 213/A, 41125 Modena (I), Italy. alberto.ghirri@nano.cnr.it
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghirri
authors.forename: Valdis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Corradini
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bellini
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Biagi
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: del Pennino
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: De Renzi
authors.forename: Julio C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cezar
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Muryn
authors.forename: Grigore A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Timco
authors.forename: Richard E P
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Winpenny
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Affronte