Themed collection Materials for molecular electronics and magnetism

Fabio Biscarini, Eugenio Coronado, Anna Painelli and Masahiro Yamashita introduce the Journal of Materials Chemistry C themed issue on Materials for Molecular Electronics and Magnetism, in honour of Jaume Veciana and Concepció Rovira.

Terahertz Raman spectroscopy is presented as a technique with promising new directions. We report the possibility of characterizing electron–lattice phonon coupling, disorder and correlation length in systems of low-dimensionality.

Free deformable, stretchable soft electronic devices are targeted by utilizing alkyl-π functional molecular liquids.

We discuss the recent advances and main approaches towards the design of electrically conductive COFs, highlight some of the challenges in such design and give our views on the future directions of this field.

The multifunctional character and stability of PTM radicals makes them appealing in a broad range of fields, from active components in molecular optoelectronics to active agents in bio-applications.

Human know-how is crucial to cross-examine and challenge computations before trusting any result for modelling magnetic properties in molecule-based materials.

Organic radicals have been consistently regarded as promising building blocks for the next generation of applied materials. Here, we discuss the insight gained from computational modelling into their magnetism and phase transitions.

Solid solutions in molecular conductors are key tools for investigating their conducting and magnetic properties, addressing phase transitions, chemical pressure effects and band filling manipulation.

Processing strategies and methodologies are reviewed that allow the control and assessment of polymorph formation in semiconducting small molecules using 5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene (TES ADT) as a model material system.

The first Single Component Molecular Metals (SCMM) were reported twenty years ago. This review will address their main design, synthetic routes and physical properties.

Spin-ladders are fascinating quantum magnetic systems. Their structural and magnetic properties and the possibilities offered by molecular units of different nature and crystal engineering tools to prepare molecular spin-ladders are discussed.

This review presents the multi-faceted applications of oligoynes in molecular electronics and optoelectronics, as well as recent insights for the design and properties of sp-hybridised carbon wires.

An anomalous change in the cyanide-stretching mode at the magnetic phase transition, a correlation between the phonon mode and long-range magnetic ordering, is observed in a molecule-based magnet, manganese tungstate octacyanide-bimetal assembly.

Frumkin isotherm is used to fit data obtained from OECT- and EGOFET-based Intrelukin-6 biosensors and compared to the Langmuir and Hill ones. The model allows extraction of the equilibrium constant K_a and the Frumkin interaction parameter g′.

Covalently and electrostatically functionalised MoS₂ flakes with photoswitchable diarylethene derivatives.

Stable CTAB micelles loaded with DiI and DiD are prepared, showing RET. Remarkably, the RET efficiency increases upon diluting the sample below the critical micellar concentration, as the dyes cluster around CTAB.

The kinetics and the diffusional/interpenetration data of the probing species over time as well as the spectroscopic data provide key information on the interchain reorganization in an electric field.

Fast and efficient triplet formation via charge separation followed by radical pair intersystem crossing is reported in a calixarene-based donor/acceptor dyad.

The supramolecular functionalization of graphene with monopodal and tripodal pyrene receptors bearing a π-extended tetrathiafulvalene is investigated, and used to develop graphene-based electrodes for enzyme-based hydrogen peroxide sensing.

Using the quantum master equation for many-body Hamiltonian, this study computationally investigates highly non-linear current–voltage characteristics such as negative differential conductance, and Coulomb blockade in a small molecular bridge.

Rare examples of phenoxido-bridged Fe^III–Ln^III binuclear complexes are synthesized, and their dynamic and static magnetic properties are rationalized by ab initio calculations.

The electronic communication between the terminal electron-donor ZnP and electron-acceptor C₆₀ units is enhanced by the conjugated EDOTV-based spacer leading to photoinduced electron transfer over the distance >2 nm in the picosecond time domain.

Polymorph selection in thin films of quinacridone obtained by the soluble latent pigment precursor method is found to be driven by the crystalline form of the precursor in a combined low-frequency Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction study.

For a library of single-crystal merocyanines charge percolation pathways and mobilities were computed, matching the experimental data. Hole transport is maximized when molecules pack in slipped not centrosymmetric pairs, arranged in 2D architectures.

New molecular and polymeric NDI-based materials, containing constitutional isomers of aromatic amines, have been prepared as powders and thin films, studied by XRD and grazing-incidence diffraction methods, and compared to n-alkyl aliphatic congeners.

Core–shell particles with a Prussian blue analogue Rb_aCo_b[Fe(CN)₆]_c·mH₂O core and different shell thicknesses are studied as the cores undergo both thermal and light-induced spin transitions, revealing different mechanisms for accommodating strain.

The spin transition of a Au nanostar and a SCO heterostructure has been induced by irradiating with low-intensity NIR light.

The electronic properties of molecular conductors are varied by substituting ions with extended wave functions to enlarge the bandwidth W. This enables them to cross the Mott insulator-to-metal phase transition by reducing electronic correlations U/W.

Hydrogen bonding has been used to direct the solid state packing of four polyheteroaromatic molecules. The correlation between structure and charge mobility has been evaluated in OFETs.

The π-electronic space between even-electron oligoenes and odd-electron cyanines is covered by the neutral and anion redox states of tetracyano quinoidal oligothiophenes enlightening them with versatile structure–function properties.

Magnetic properties of nickel catecholdithiolene complexes with unique hydrogen-bond networks were modulated by oxidation-coupled deprotonations and controlled with crystallization conditions.

A method to prepare key synthetic intermediates for ABAB- and ABAC-phthalocyanines and analogues is described. As an illustration, the synthesis of an ABAC-phthalocyanine-type dye, with a donor–π-bridge–acceptor structure, is performed.

The hybridization of the charge-transfer (CT) state with both the ground state (GS) and local-excitation (LE) states is essential in order to describe accurately the radiative and non-radiative transition rates in TTM-based radicals.

Thermal evaporation of (poly)radicals is possible. More than one radical site in a molecule makes it more reactive, narrowing the windows left for thin film evaporation, and favouring island formation rather than two-dimensional growth.

Three-dimensional framework Dy₂(amp₂H₂)₂(C₂O₄)(H₂O)₂·10H₂O exhibits thermo-induced dehydration and de-dimerization of amp₂H₂²⁻, accompanied by changes in its single-molecule magnetic behaviour and luminescence properties.

Statics and dynamics of ferroelectric domains in molecular perovskite multiaxial ferroelectric (Me₃NOH)₂[KCo(CN)₆].

Nd³⁺ ions incorporated into hybrid layers built of [M(CN)₈]⁴⁻ (M = Mo^IV or W^IV) and pyrazine N,N′-dioxide linkers form enantiomorphic materials exhibiting tunable NIR luminescence, SHG activity, and slow magnetic relaxation.

Enantiopure semiconducting crystalline radical cation salts of TM-BEDT-TTF with the Lindqvist type molybdenum based dianion, prepared by electrocrystallization, show unusual donor/anion ratio, charge distribution and helical packing of the donors.

TbPc₂ SMMs were encapsulated in the internal nano space of SWCNTs for the first time. From the STM/STS, it was determined that there were electronic interactions between the TbPc₂ and SWCNTs in TbPc₂@SWCNT.

This work gives new insights in the conduction mechanisms across biomolecular junctions and demonstrates that proteins can reversibly change between in- and coherent tunnelling pathways defined by the protein cage and the amount of co-factor.

The role of fullerenes as interfacial electron extractors and as bulk electron transporters in PSCs was differentially assessed in order to optimize device performances.