Manipulating Molecular Kondo Effect by Chemical Reactions

Motivated by spintronic applications, the control of Kondo effect arising from spin exchange interaction between isolated spins and conduction electrons of non-magnetic metals, has been explored. A method to control the molecular Kondo effect is demonstrated via chemical reactions. A spontaneous binding between molecules was exploited to control the molecular Kondo effect on Au(111). The Kondo effect was switched back on using local scanning tunneling microscope manipulation. This method relies on the hybridized pairing of unpaired spins two molecules, as supported by our density functional theory calculation results.