Scanning tunneling spectroscopy on Mn12 single molecule magnets grafted on Au(111)

Abstract

We report on the electronic properties of Mn12 molecules chemically grafted on the functionalized Au(111) surface studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy at room temperature. Reproducible current-voltage curves were obtained from Mn12 molecules showing a large region of low conductance around the Fermi energy. In agreement with the tunneling spectroscopy results the bias voltage variation upon scanning leads to apparent height changes of the Mn12 clusters. We discuss these findings in the light of the recent band structure calculations and electronic transport measurements on single Mn12 molecules. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.