title: Single molecule magnets with protective ligand shells on gold and titanium dioxide surfaces: in situ electrospray deposition and x-ray absorption spectroscopy.
abstract: Two single molecule magnets based on the dodecamanganese (III, IV) cluster with either benzoate or terphenyl-4-carboxylate ligands, have been studied on the Au(111) and rutile TiO2(110) surfaces. We have used in situ electrospray deposition to produce a series of surface coverages from a fraction of a monolayer to multilayer films in both cases. X-ray absorption spectroscopy measured at the Mn L-edge (Mn 2p) has been used to study the effect of adsorption on the oxidation states of the manganese atoms in the core. In the case of the benzoate-functionalised complex reduction of the manganese metal centres is observed due to the interaction of the manganese core with the underlying surface. In the case of terphenyl-4-carboxylate, the presence of this much larger ligand prevents the magnetic core from interacting with either the gold or the titanium dioxide surfaces and the characteristic Mn(3+) and Mn(4+) oxidation states necessary for magnetic behaviour are preserved.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Handrup
authors.forename: Victoria J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.forename: Neil R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Champness
authors.forename: James N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: O'Shea