title: Large Conductance Switching in a Single-Molecule Device through Room Temperature Spin-Dependent Transport.
abstract: Controlling the spin of electrons in nanoscale electronic devices is one of the most promising topics aiming at developing devices with rapid and high density information storage capabilities. The interface magnetism or spinterface resulting from the interaction between a magnetic molecule and a metal surface, or vice versa, has become a key ingredient in creating nanoscale molecular devices with novel functionalities. Here, we present a single-molecule wire that displays large (>10000%) conductance switching by controlling the spin-dependent transport under ambient conditions (room temperature in a liquid cell). The molecular wire is built by trapping individual spin crossover Fe(II) complexes between one Au electrode and one ferromagnetic Ni electrode in an organic liquid medium. Large changes in the single-molecule conductance (>100-fold) are measured when the electrons flow from the Au electrode to either an α-up or a β-down spin-polarized Ni electrode. Our calculations show that the current flowing through such an interface appears to be strongly spin-polarized, thus resulting in the observed switching of the single-molecule wire conductance. The observation of such a high spin-dependent conductance switching in a single-molecule wire opens up a new door for the design and control of spin-polarized transport in nanoscale molecular devices at room temperature.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Química Física, Universitat de Barcelona , Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.|Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) , Baldiri Reixac 15-21, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.|Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER-BBN) , Campus Río Ebro-Edificio I+D, Poeta Mariano Esquillor s/n, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Albert C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Aragonès
authors.affiliation: Departament de Química Inorgànica and Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional, Universitat de Barcelona , Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.|Departamento de Química de los Materiales, Facultad de Química y Biología, Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) , Casilla 40, Correo 33, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Aravena
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, CSIC, Cantoblanco , 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Cerdá
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciència Molecular (ICMol), Universitat de València , 46980 Paterna, València, Spain.
authors.forename: Zulema
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Acís-Castillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering, University of California-Davis , 2064 Kemper Hall, Davis, California 95616, United States.
authors.forename: Haipeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciència Molecular (ICMol), Universitat de València , 46980 Paterna, València, Spain.
authors.forename: José Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Real
authors.affiliation: Departament de Química Física, Universitat de Barcelona , Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.|Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) , Baldiri Reixac 15-21, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.|Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER-BBN) , Campus Río Ebro-Edificio I+D, Poeta Mariano Esquillor s/n, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Fausto
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sanz
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering, University of California-Davis , 2064 Kemper Hall, Davis, California 95616, United States.
authors.forename: Josh
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hihath
authors.affiliation: Departament de Química Inorgànica and Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional, Universitat de Barcelona , Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Eliseo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Departament de Química Física, Universitat de Barcelona , Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.|Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) , Baldiri Reixac 15-21, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.|Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER-BBN) , Campus Río Ebro-Edificio I+D, Poeta Mariano Esquillor s/n, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Ismael
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Díez-Pérez
keywords: STM break-junction; Single-molecule junctions; density functional calculations; magnetoresistance; spin orbit coupling; spin-crossover complexes; spinterface