Single-molecule Magnets on Surfaces

Encoding and manipulating information through the spin degrees of freedom of individual magnetic molecules or atoms is one of the central challenges in the continuing trend towards molecular/atomic scale electronics. With their large magnetic moment and long spin relaxation time, single-molecule magnets (SMMs) are of special importance in this emerging field. Their electrical addressing at the molecular level appears now well within reach using STM methods, which require to organize SMMs on a conducting surface. In this chapter, we present a critical overview of the latest achievements in the deposition of SMMs as monolayers or submonolayers on native or prefunctionalized surfaces. Special emphasis is placed on the selection and design of molecular structures that withstand solution or vapour-phase processing and that maintain their magnetic functionality on a surface. Chemical strategies to control the strength of molecule–substrate interaction and the molecular orientation on the surface are also illustrated. Rewardingly, these efforts have shown that the distinctive properties of SMMs, i.e. slow spin relaxation and quantum tunnelling of the magnetic moment, persist in metal-wired molecules.