New spin on materials with spin
The subject of spin-crossover is one of the most spectacular instances of molecular bistability, with the spin state of the complexes changing in response to external stimuli. Within the NANOSCOPE (Mastering novel switchable molecular materials at the nanometric scale for their technological application in the areas of nanoelectronics and nanophotonics) project, scientists produced miniaturised systems obtained through controlled synthesis, nanopatterning and organisation of switchable materials. Before integrating these materials into electronic and photonic sensor devices, the NANOSCOPE team explored different synthesis methods to prepare new assemblies containing spin-crossover nano-objects. Original coordination chemistry methods were used for fabricating nano-structures with controlled composition, morphology and 3D architecture. The fulcrum of the scientists' efforts was to control the molecular organisation during nanopatterning, while retaining bistable behaviour. Achieving this was very important for preserving material properties as they are affected not only by compound chemistry and the molecular environment, but also by compound size and structural arrangement. With the use of coordination complexes, NANOSCOPE contributed to broadening the scope of materials that possess spin-crossover capacity for use in switches, data storage and optical displays.
Keywords
Spin-crossover, switches, data storage, coordination complexes, optical displays
