Erratic magnetic hysteresis of TbPc2 molecular nanomagnets

Abstract

Terbium(III) bis-phthalocyaninato neutral complex, a robust and evaporable Single Molecule Magnet (SMM) with a record height of the anisotropy barrier, has recently attracted a great interest as an active unit in single molecule electronics, but at the same time its magnetic hysteresis has been found to be strongly affected when the environment is different from the crystalline phase. Here we present a systematic investigation of the magnetization dynamics in different environments, obtained by magnetic dilution, thermal treatment and sublimation of the molecules, to shed some light on the origin of the evanescence of the hysteretic behavior of this unique SMM.