Exchange Interactions and Intermolecular Hybridization in a Spin-1/2 Nanographene Dimer

Phenalenyl is a radical nanographene with a triangular shape hosting an unpaired electron with spin S = 1/2. The open-shell nature of the phenalenyl is expected to be retained in covalently bonded networks. As a first step, we report synthesis of the phenalenyl dimer by combining in-solution synthesis and on-surface activation and its characterization on Au(111) and on a NaCl decoupling layer by means of inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS). IETS shows inelastic steps that are identified as singlet-triplet excitation arising from interphenalenyl exchange. Spin excitation energies with and without the NaCl decoupling layer are 48 and 41 meV, respectively, indicating significant renormalization due to exchange with Au(111) electrons. Furthermore, third-neighbor hopping-induced interphenalenyl hybridization is fundamental to explaining the position-dependent bias asymmetry of the inelastic steps and activation of kinetic interphenalenyl exchange. Our results pave the way for bottom-up synthesis of S = 1/2 spin-lattices with large exchange interactions.

Observation of the Magnetic Ground State of the Two Smallest Triangular Nanographenes

Fusion of three benzene rings in a triangular fashion gives rise to the smallest open-shell graphene fragment, the phenalenyl radical, whose π-extension leads to an entire family of non-Kekulé triangular nanographenes with high-spin ground states. Here, we report the first synthesis of unsubstituted phenalenyl on a Au(111) surface, which is achieved by combining in-solution synthesis of the hydro-precursor and on-surface activation by atomic manipulation, using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. Single-molecule structural and electronic characterizations confirm its open-shell S = 1/2 ground state that gives rise to Kondo screening on the Au(111) surface. In addition, we compare the phenalenyl's electronic properties with those of triangulene, the second homologue in the series, whose S = 1 ground state induces an underscreened Kondo effect. Our results set a new lower size limit in the on-surface synthesis of magnetic nanographenes that can serve as building blocks for the realization of new exotic quantum phases of matter.