Electronic structure and transport properties of early transition metal tripledeckers

The electronic structure and transport properties of the Cp(2)BzM(2) (M = Sc, Ti, and V) tripledeckers are studied by spin polarized density functional theory and nonequilibrium Green's function method considering high-spin and low-spin states. Total energy calculations show that the sandwich structured Cp(2)BzSc(2) exists in a singlet state with no local magnetic moment on the Sc atoms. Cp(2)BzTi(2) in triplet state exists as a distorted tripledecker and is more stable than singlet and quintet states. Cp(2)BzV(2) stabilizes in the quintet state with a spin density of 2.4 on each vanadium atom. Hund's coupling plays a vital role in stabilizing the higher multiplets in case of titanium and vanadium clusters. In bigger clusters like Cp(3)Bz(2)M(4), Sc multidecker has one unpaired spin, Ti multidecker has five unpaired spins, and V multidecker has seven unpaired spins in total. Spin polarized electronic transport is found for all states of vanadium tripledecker and one state of the titanium tripledecker when connected to a gold two probe junction. Moderate to high-spin filter efficiencies are calculated for these states. Cp(2)BzSc(2) shows spin-independent electronic transport for all electronic states when introduced in the gold two probe junction. Current versus voltage curves are reported for selected clusters in the two probe setup.