Surface Investigation on Gd4M8 (M = Zn, Ni) Single Molecule Coolers. (5th May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Corradini, Valdis; Ghirri, Alberto; Candini, Andrea; Biagi, Roberto; del Pennino, Umberto; De Renzi, Valentina; Dotti, Gianluca; Otero, Edwige; Hooper, Thomas N.; Inglis, Ross; Brechin, Euan K.; Affronte, Marco
• Is Part Of: Advanced functional materials. Volume 24:Number 30(2014)
• Page Start: 4782
• Page End: 4788
• Publication Date: 2014-05-05
• Subjects: Materials -- Periodicals; Chemical vapor deposition -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201400460
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1616-301X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Proving the preservation of functionality at the molecular scale is still a major challenge, both for the choice of suitable derivatives and protocols and for the employed experimental tools and methods. By using a combined scanning probe (AFM and STM) and spectroscopic methodology (XPS, XAS and XMCD), it is shown that Gd₄M₈ derivatives (with M = Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺) are robust molecular units which preserve their electronic, magnetic, and thermodynamic properties when deposited on a metallic surface. Namely, entropy variation Δ<italic>S</italic> = [<italic>S</italic>(6 T) – <italic>S</italic>(0 T)] exceeding 8 R (20 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹) at 4 K in isolated Gd₄Ni₈ molecules dispersed on Au(111) surface is measured and a viable route to exploit large magnetocaloric effect at single molecule level is shown.</p> </abstract>