Correlation of Kondo effect and molecular conformation of the acceptor molecule in the TTF-TCNE charge transfer complex

Abstract

A Kondo resonance has been observed on purely organic molecules in several combinations of charge transfer complexes on a metal surface. It has been regarded as a fingerprint of the transfer of one electron from the donor to the extended $\pi$ orbital of the acceptor's LUMO. Here, we investigate the stoichiometric checkerboard structure of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) on a Au(111) surface using scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy at 4.8 K. We find a bistable state of the TCNE molecules with distinct structural and electronic properties. The two states represent different conformations of the TCNE within the structure. One of them exhibits a Kondo resonance, whereas the other one does not, despite of both TCNE types being singly charged.

References in corpus (8)

• The mechanism of high-resolution STM/AFM imaging with functionalized tips
• The origin of high-resolution IETS-STM images of organic molecules with functionalized tips
• Manipulating Kondo Temperature via Single Molecule Switching
• Long-range repulsive interaction between TTF molecules on a metal surface induced by charge transfer
• Vibrational Sidebands and Kondo-effect in Molecular Transistors
• Gating the charge state of a single molecule by local electric fields
• Tuning Molecule-Mediated Spin Coupling in Bottom-Up Fabricated Vanadium-TCNE Nanostructures
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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Co(CO)n/Cu(001): Towards understanding chemical control of the Kondo effect