Nanomechanical resonators have been used to weigh cells, biomolecules and gas molecules, and to study basic phenomena in surface science, such as phase transitions and diffusion. These experiments all rely on the ability of nanomechanical mass sensors to resolve small masses. Here, we report mass sensing experiments with a resolution of 1.7 yg (1 yg = 10(-24) g), which corresponds to the mass of one proton. The resonator is a carbon nanotube of length ∼150 nm that vibrates at a frequency of almost 2 GHz. This unprecedented level of sensitivity allows us to detect adsorption events of naphthalene molecules (C(10)H(8)), and to measure the binding energy of a xenon atom on the nanotube surface. These ultrasensitive nanotube resonators could have applications in mass spectrometry, magnetometry and surface science.

Nanosize pores can turn semimetallic graphene into a semiconductor and, from being impermeable, into the most efficient molecular-sieve membrane. However, scaling the pores down to the nanometer, while fulfilling the tight structural constraints imposed by applications, represents an enormous challenge for present top-down strategies. Here we report a bottom-up method to synthesize nanoporous graphene comprising an ordered array of pores separated by ribbons, which can be tuned down to the 1-nanometer range. The size, density, morphology, and chemical composition of the pores are defined with atomic precision by the design of the molecular precursors. Our electronic characterization further reveals a highly anisotropic electronic structure, where orthogonal one-dimensional electronic bands with an energy gap of ∼1 electron volt coexist with confined pore states, making the nanoporous graphene a highly versatile semiconductor for simultaneous sieving and electrical sensing of molecular species.

Advances in molecular electronics depend on the ability to control the charge and spin of single molecules at the interface with a metal. Here we show that bonding of metal-organic complexes to a metallic substrate induces the formation of coupled metal-ligand spin states, increasing the spin degeneracy of the molecules and opening multiple spin relaxation channels. scanning tunnelling spectroscopy reveals the sign and magnitude of intramolecular exchange coupling as well as the orbital character of the spin-polarized molecular states. We observe coexisting Kondo, spin, and vibrational inelastic channels in a single molecule, which lead to pronounced intramolecular variations of the conductance and spin dynamics. The spin degeneracy of the molecules can be controlled by artificially fabricating molecular clusters of different size and shape. By comparing data for vibronic and spin-exchange excitations, we provide a positive test of the universal scaling properties of inelastic Kondo processes having different physical origin.

We investigate the hierarchy of local correlation and hybridization effects in metal-organic molecules adsorbed on metals. Using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and ligand field multiplet calculations, we demonstrate that the 3d electronic ground state of monolayer metal-phthalocyanine (CoPc, FePc) on Au (111) is given by the coherent superposition of two charge states, d n E + d n+1 , where E represents a substrate electron antiferromagnetically coupled to the central metal ion and d n the many-body ionic orbital configuration of the unperturbed molecule. These results differ from previous models of hybrid metal-organic systems and provide a consistent description of their magnetic moments and Kondo physics in terms of spin and orbital multiplicity. The magnetic properties of transition-metal (TM) compounds depend critically on the competition between d-d electron correlation and covalency, that is, the transfer of charge between d-orbitals and delocalized ligand states. 1 Charge transfer (CT) affects the magnetization of TM ions, their coupling through indirect exchange paths, as well as the conductivity of important classes of materials, including TM oxides, high-T c superconductors, and molecular complexes. Recently, CT processes that take place at the interface between magnetic molecules and metal surfaces have come under intensive attention. 2-4 Transport measurements of single molecules trapped between metallic electrodes 5 and layered metal/organic heterostructures 6 have revealed the role played by interfacial hybridization in determining efficient charge and spin injection across TM complexes, a prerequisite to developing molecular spintronic devices. 6,7 A comprehensive description of the electronic and magnetic properties of metal-organic hybrids, however, is complicated by the fact that CT can occur between TM and ligand orbitals, but also between any of these states and the electron reservoir of a supporting metal surface or electrode. Clearly, understanding such processes would be of great importance in modeling and controlling the properties of magnetic molecules interfaced with metals.Density functional theory (DFT) provides the basis of our current understanding of hybrid metal-organic systems. [2][3][4]8,9 Yet, due to the difficulty of modeling exchange and electron correlation phenomena using effective one-electron potentials, DFT affords only a partial description of the magnetic properties of TM complexes. 1 Methods beyond standard DFT that include Coulomb repulsion through semiempirical Hubbard U terms have been successfully employed to describe the ground state of isolated molecules. 10 However, DFT + U remains a mean-field scheme, which precludes a proper modeling of valence and spin fluctuations induced by CT.A notable case where CT has a dramatic influence on the magnetism of a TM complex is that of Co-phthalocyanine (CoPc), a well-known molecule with spin S = 1/2 (Ref. 11).DFT predicts that CoPc adsorbed on Au(111) (Refs. 12 and 13), Cu (111) (Ref. 14), and even ferromagnetic Fe(110...