Final Report Summary - CHEMCOMP (Building-up Chemical Complexity into Multifunctional Molecule-based Hybrid Materials)
The CHEMCOMP goal was to develop new hybrid materials targeting new synergic physical phenomena, taking advantage of the molecular approach to design and tune the desired combination of physical properties of interest. From the perspective of novel chemistry and materials, the main achievements that we can disclose at this point are:
i) Molecules with memory: Magnetic molecules appear as the ultimate miniaturization frontier for information storage media. However, most molecules retain bistability only at very low temperatures. On this regard, we were able to design polyanionic iron complexes that exhibit bistability above room temperature. According to our dilution data, this high temperature memory effect occurs at the single molecule level, being the first example of its kind.
ii) Bistable organic conductors: Organic conductors have found interesting technological applications in the last decades. Through this project, we have been able to confer a new feature to these interesting materials: bistability though external stimuli. The incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles of a spin crossover material allows switching between two different states, with low and high conductivity, upon acting on the inorganic probes. Such stimuli-responsive performance is unprecedented in any conducting material, and opens striking possibilities for novel device architectures.
iii) Magnetic catalysts: During the development of new magnetic materials based on the classic Prussian Blue (PB) structure, we discovered the excellent catalytic activity of cobalt-containing derivatives for the oxygen evolution reaction. This is a key process for the future development of artificial photosynthesis and our studies demonstrate the viability of these catalysts. Kinetically competitive with metal oxides, they possess superior stability and robustness. The performance of these PB-based catalysts is unparalleled in neutral and acid media, where solar hydrogen production is preferred.
iv) New surface-assisted polymerization: During the processing of single molecules on surfaces for single-molecule addressing we discovered a novel organic reaction promoted by coinage metals. Ethyl-functionalized aromatic rings can fuse via hydrogen elimination to form polymeric structures with controlled shape and size. This novel organic reaction could be useful to obtain molecular graphene analogs on surfaces.
It is also important to mention the parallel development of characterization techniques during the life of the project. Novel synergetic materials required novel multipurpose platforms to study their optical, electrical and magnetic properties under external stimuli. The most representative outcome is the validation of a new spectroscopic platform to collect transmission data down to very low temperatures and under magnetic fields. This platform is currently being transferred for commercialization in the frame of an ERC Proof-of-Concept grant (U-SPEC).
i) Molecules with memory: Magnetic molecules appear as the ultimate miniaturization frontier for information storage media. However, most molecules retain bistability only at very low temperatures. On this regard, we were able to design polyanionic iron complexes that exhibit bistability above room temperature. According to our dilution data, this high temperature memory effect occurs at the single molecule level, being the first example of its kind.
ii) Bistable organic conductors: Organic conductors have found interesting technological applications in the last decades. Through this project, we have been able to confer a new feature to these interesting materials: bistability though external stimuli. The incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles of a spin crossover material allows switching between two different states, with low and high conductivity, upon acting on the inorganic probes. Such stimuli-responsive performance is unprecedented in any conducting material, and opens striking possibilities for novel device architectures.
iii) Magnetic catalysts: During the development of new magnetic materials based on the classic Prussian Blue (PB) structure, we discovered the excellent catalytic activity of cobalt-containing derivatives for the oxygen evolution reaction. This is a key process for the future development of artificial photosynthesis and our studies demonstrate the viability of these catalysts. Kinetically competitive with metal oxides, they possess superior stability and robustness. The performance of these PB-based catalysts is unparalleled in neutral and acid media, where solar hydrogen production is preferred.
iv) New surface-assisted polymerization: During the processing of single molecules on surfaces for single-molecule addressing we discovered a novel organic reaction promoted by coinage metals. Ethyl-functionalized aromatic rings can fuse via hydrogen elimination to form polymeric structures with controlled shape and size. This novel organic reaction could be useful to obtain molecular graphene analogs on surfaces.
It is also important to mention the parallel development of characterization techniques during the life of the project. Novel synergetic materials required novel multipurpose platforms to study their optical, electrical and magnetic properties under external stimuli. The most representative outcome is the validation of a new spectroscopic platform to collect transmission data down to very low temperatures and under magnetic fields. This platform is currently being transferred for commercialization in the frame of an ERC Proof-of-Concept grant (U-SPEC).