FeCoCp₃ molecular magnets as spin filters

Abstract

Metallorganic molecules have been proposed as excellent spin filters in molecular spintronics because of the large spin polarization of their electronic structure. However, most of the studies involving spin transport have disregarded fundamental aspects such as the magnetic anisotropy of the molecule and the excitation of spin-flip processes during electron transport. Here, we study a molecule containing a Co and an Fe atom stacked between three cyclopentadienyl rings, which presents a large magnetic anisotropy and a S = 1. These figures are superior to other molecules with the same transition metal and improves the spin-filtering capacities of the molecule. Nonequilibrium Green's functions calculations based on density functional theory predict excellent spin-filtering properties both in tunnel and contact transport regimes. However, exciting the first magnetic state drastically reduces the current's spin polarization. Furthermore, a difference of temperature between electrodes leads to strong thermoelectric effects that also suppress spin polarization. Our study shows that in principle good molecular candidates for spintronics need to be confronted with inelastic and thermoelectric effects. (Graph Presented).