Van der Waals (vdW) materials, such as hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), are highly promising for applications in optoelectronics and quantum technologies. When assembled into heterostructures, h-BN can...

The Perseverance rover on Mars has observed unusual minerals associated with organic matter — raising questions about the geochemistry of ancient Mars.

Precise control of charge and spin states in quantum dots is often challenging. Here, the authors show systematic manipulation of the electron occupation in graphene nanoribbons laying on MgO.

Salt, far from being a passive bystander, actively reshapes the molecule’s structure and decides where extra electrons reside

Triangulenes are prototypical examples of open-shell nanographenes. Their magnetic properties, arising from the presence of unpaired π electrons, can be extensively tuned by modifying their size and shape or by introducing heteroatoms. Different triangulene derivatives have been designed and synthesized in recent years thanks to the development of on-surface synthesis strategies. Triangulene-based nanostructures with polyradical character, hosting several interacting spin units, can be challenging to fabricate but are particularly interesting for potential applications in carbon-based spintronics. Here, we combine pristine and N-doped triangulenes into a more complex nanographene, TTAT, predicted to possess three unpaired π electrons delocalized along the zigzag periphery. We generate the molecule on a Au(111) surface and detect direct fingerprints of multiradical coupling and high-spin state using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. With the support of theoretical calculations, we show that its three radical units are localized at distinct parts of the molecule and couple via symmetric ferromagnetic interactions, which result in a S = 3/2 ground state, thus demonstrating the realization of a molecular ferromagnetic Heisenberg spin trimer.

A fully-funded 4-year theoretical/computational PhD studentship is available to study charge and valley transport phenomena in 2D systems. The aim of the project is to investigate the interplay of cha...