Supramolecular Spin Valves
The first demonstration of a fully functional spintronics device that is entirely made of molecular materials
is reported in two publications Nature Materials
and Nano Lett
More.... Press.
Surface-Confined Molecular Motors
The self-assembly of surface-confined molecular motors from simple molecular building blocks was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences (PNAS, in collaboration with J.V. Barth, TU München)
More....
String Networks
An article in Nature Chemistry reports on the random reticulation of a
metal surface by divergent
coordination assembly expressing string formation and bifurcation
motifs.
More....
Giant Magnetic Anisotropy SMMs
The spin dynamics of a [TbPc2]-1-SMM
was probed by solid-state 1H NMR techniques. The magnetic anisotropy
barrier was found to be one order of magnitude larger than in any other
SMM system (584 cm-1 - 641 cm-1).
More
...
Dichotomous Array of Quantum Corrals
The confinement of surface-state electrons is possible using weak -interactions of aromatic molecules with metallic surfaces. The results obtained in collaboration with the group of J. V. Barth (TU Munich) demonstrate the engineering of ensembles of elaborate quantum resonance states by molecular self-assembly. More...
Expanding the Coordination Cage
A Ruthenium(II)-polypyridine complex exhibiting high quantum yields
under ambient conditions was obtained by the expansion of the tpy
coordination cage.
More..... Switching Nanostructures
The report on the
nanostructuring of switchable iron (II) spin transition compounds by
soft lithography techniques (in collaboration with
M. Cavallini, CNR Bologna) was highlighted as "Hot Paper" in the Angewandte Chemie. More... Press...
Transport through a Single Metal Ion
In collaboration with IBM, our group succeeded to study the electron transport through a single
Ru(tpy)2-molecule. It was shown that the transport occurs in the resonant tunnelling regime and the ruthenium(II) metal ion behaves like the cross shaft in a Cardan-joint. More...
MARIO RUBEN Scientific Scope
The research activity of the Functional Molecular Nanostructures Group at the Institute of Nanotechnology in Karlsruhe is oriented towards the design of functional nanosystems by state-of-the-art organic/inorganic synthesis and supramolecular self-assembly techniques.
The vision of the research group is to develop new concepts and advance research tools to master the design and the characterisation of molecular structures as well as their implementation and integration within the nanometer-regime. Towards this end, the group is highly integrated into several interdisciplinary collaborations and is directing several interdisciplinary European network projects
Breakthrough experiments have been carried out by the group targeting the self-assembly of spintronic devices. Supramolecular techniques were used to position magnetic molecules in defined device environments where single-spin addressing leads to the observation of magnetoresistive effects. The demonstrated possibility of manipulating spins at the single molecule limit opens a completely new world to molecular spintronics, where memory, logic and possibly quantum logic may be integrated.
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