Magnetic properties of on-surface synthesized single-ion molecular magnets

Abstract

We perform on-surface synthesis of single-ion molecular magnets on an Ag(111) surface and characterize their morphology, chemistry, and magnetism. The first molecule we synthesize is TbPc₂ to enable comparison with chemically synthesized and subsequently surface adsorbed species. We demonstrate the formation of TbPc₂ with a yield close to 100% and show that on-surface synthesis leads to identical magnetic and morphological properties compared to the previously studied chemically synthesized species. Moreover, exposure of the surface adsorbed TbPc₂ molecules to air does not modify their magnetic and morphological properties. To demonstrate the versatility of our approach, we synthesize novel Tb double deckers using tert-butyl-substituted phthalocyanine (tbu-2H-Pc). The Tb(tbu-Pc)₂ molecules exhibit magnetic hysteresis and therefore are the first purely on-surface synthesized single ion magnet.