Graphene molecular wires coupled with porphyrins enable magnetic and optical functions

Researchers from Empa, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have developed a hybrid system in which porphyrins are attached to graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) in a precise and well-defined manner.

Image credit: Credit: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

Graphene nanoribbons with zigzag edges are promising materials for spintronic devices, owing to their tunable bandgaps and spin-polarized edge states. Porphyrins offer complementary optoelectronic benefits. In the new system, a graphene ribbon just one nanometer wide with zigzag edges is used as a molecular wire, along which porphyrin molecules are docked at perfectly regular intervals, alternating between the ribbon’s left and right sides.

Image credit: Credit: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and TechnologyGraphene nanoribbons with zigzag edges are promising materials for spintronic devices, owing to their tunable bandgaps and spin-polarized edge states. Porphyrins offer complementary optoelectronic benefits. In the new system, a graphene ribbon just one nanometer wide with zigzag edges is used as a molecular wire, along which porphyrin molecules are docked at perfectly regular intervals, alternating between the ribbon’s left and right sides.

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