ELECTRA aims at understanding and controlling the interaction between magnetic molecules and electric fields, called Spin-Electric (SE) effect.
Molecules have several characteristics that make them appealing for information technology (small sie, monodispersity, chemical tunability, quantum behaviour).
Nowadays, electric fields are the most environmentally friendly and precise way to target a single molecule. Therefore, understanding how to tailor and control the SE effects will trigger the design of less energy-demanding, more efficient, and smaller devices.
However, the SE effects on molecules are still poorly explored and rationalized, largely due to the absence of a generally applicable experimental technique.
Therefore, this project proposes the realisation of a novel experimental technique to detect SE effects on any magnetically anisotropic material, with no a priori restrictions. A rational synthetic plan will exploit the versatility of chemistry to unravel the role and importance of chemically tuneable properties on the onset of the SE effects in coordination complexes. Moreover, the effect of temperature and magnetic field on the SE effects will be assessed using super-sensitive molecular probes.
The rationalization of the effect will be obtained by combining ab initio calculations and henomenological models. The positive completion of ELECTRA will deliver an unprecedented understanding of the SE effects in molecules and chemical guidelines for synthesizing highly performant molecular architectures with SE effects on-demand to be used in the field of information technology.
