Control of molecular orbital ordering using a van der Waals monolayer ferroelectric

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) ferroelectric materials provide a promising platform for the electrical control of quantum states. In particular, due to their 2D nature, they are suitable for influencing the quantum states of deposited molecules via the proximity effect. Here, we report electrically controllable molecular states in phthalocyanine molecules adsorbed on monolayer ferroelectric material SnTe. In particular, we demonstrate that the strain and ferroelectric order in SnTe creates a transition between two distinct orbital orders in the adsorbed phthalocyanine molecules. By controlling the polarization of the ferroelectric domain using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we have successfully demonstrated that orbital order can be manipulated electrically. Our results show how ferroelastic coupling in 2D systems allows control of molecular states, providing a starting point for ferroelectrically switchable molecular orbital ordering and ultimately, electrical control of molecular magnetism.

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• Quantum ESPRESSO: a modular and open-source software project for quantum simulations of materials
• Electrically driven single electron spin resonance in a slanting Zeeman field
• Electronic and magnetic properties of molecule-metal interfaces: transition metal phthalocyanines adsorbed on Ag(100)
• Voltage tuning of vibrational mode energies in single-molecule junctions
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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Atomic-scale visualization of multiferroicity in monolayer NiI${}_2$
• Strain-induced two-dimensional topological crystalline insulator