The original article is prpepared by Mgr. Martina Šaradínová, UPOL, in cooperation with the Department of Media Communication of the Office of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
https://www.avcr.cz/cs/pro-media/aktuality/Cesi-nasli-novy-zpusob-jak-ridit-magneticke-vlastnosti-molekul/
Scientists from the Regional Center of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM) of the Palacký University in Olomouc, the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (ÚOCHB) of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic found a new way to manage the electronic and magnetic properties of molecules. While external sources such as light, temperature, pressure, or magnetic fields were used to excite changes in the electronic state of molecules, Czech researchers have come up with a revolutionary way of using weak non-covalent interactions of molecules with a chemically modified carbon surface. Their work has recently been published by Nature Communications.
"The ability to re-modify the electronic structure of molecules and their magnetic properties is of interest to scientists over the last few decades due to their great application potential. Such switching from one magnetic state to another is very difficult in view of the small size of the molecules, but it is also very important for the development of future molecular computers, "said Pavel Jelínek of RCPTM and the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Molecular switches offer applications in nanoelectronics, biology or medicine.
The electrical, optical, or magnetic properties of molecules, as well as their biological activity, are determined by the arrangement of electrons that move in the molecules on exactly given paths, the so-called orbits. Molecules containing orbitals occupied by only one unpaired electron show magnetic properties. In contrast, molecules that have two paired electrons in all orbits are non-magnetic.
"So far, switching is triggered by the use of technology-intensive external resources. We used a single atomic layer of graphite-graphene in the structure of which some carbon atoms replaced nitrogen atoms. By changing the position of the molecule, we are then able to revert from the magnetic state to pure graphene to non-magnetic in the areas of the nitrogen atoms. In addition, for the first time, these changes have made the electron arrangement in the molecule observed using the atomic force microscope. It is undoubtedly a great shift in the possibilities of differentiating microscopic scanning techniques, "Jelinek explained.
