A single molecule Kondo switch: multistability of tetracyanoethylene on Cu(111).

Choi, Taeyoung; Bedwani, Stéphane; Rochefort, Alain; Chen, Chia-Yi; Epstein, Arthur J; Gupta, Jay A · Nano Lett · 2010

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Single tetracyanoethyelene (TCNE) molecules on Cu(111) are reversibly switched among five states by applying voltage pulses with the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. A pronounced Kondo resonance in tunneling spectroscopy indicates that one of the states is magnetic. Side bands of the Kondo resonance appear at energies which correspond to inter- and intramolecular vibrational modes. Density functional theory suggests that molecular deformation changes the occupancy in TCNE's molecular orbitals, thus producing the magnetic state.