A new study uncovers a switchable, atomically-thin metal-organic material that could be used in future low-energy electronic technologies. The study shows that electron interactions in this material create an unusual electrically-insulating phase in which electrons are 'frozen'.
"Thanks to the versatility of supramolecular chemistry approaches -- in particular applied on surfaces as substrates -- we have an almost infinite number of combinations to construct materials from the bottom-up, with atomic scale precision," explains corresponding author A/Prof Schiffrin."In these approaches, organic molecules are used as building blocks, By carefully choosing the right ingredients, we can tune the properties of MOFs.
"The electronic signature in our calculations showed remarkable agreement with experimental measurements and provided conclusive evidence of a Mott insulating phase," explains FLEET alum Dr. Bernard Field, who performed the theoretical calculations in collaboration with researchers from the University of Queensland and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in Japan.
The observation of a Mott insulator in a MOF which is easy to synthesise and contains abundant elements also makes these materials attractive candidates for further studies of strongly correlated phenomena -- potentially including superconductivity, magnetism, or spin liquids.