Manipulating Magnetism at Organic/Ferromagnetic Interfaces by Molecule-Induced Surface Reconstruction

Rui Pang, Xingqiang Shi*, Michael A. Van Hove

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)
63 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Fullerenes have several advantages as potential materials for organic spintronics. Through a theoretical first-principles study, we report that fullerene C60 adsorption can induce a magnetic reconstruction in a Ni(111) surface and expose the merits of the reconstructed C60/Ni(111) spinterface for molecular spintronics applications. Surface reconstruction drastically modifies the magnetic properties at both sides of the C60/Ni interface. Three outstanding properties of the reconstructed structure are revealed, which originate from reconstruction enhanced spin-split π-d coupling between C60 and Ni(111): (1) the C60 spin polarization and conductance around the Fermi level are enhanced simultaneously, which can be important for read-head sensor miniaturization; (2) localized spin-polarized states appear in C60 with a spin-filter functionality; and (3) magnetocrystalline anisotropic energy and exchange coupling in the outermost Ni layer are reduced enormously. Surface reconstruction can be realized simply by controlling the annealing temperature in experiments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4029-4035
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume138
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Mar 2016

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Manipulating Magnetism at Organic/Ferromagnetic Interfaces by Molecule-Induced Surface Reconstruction'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this