On-Surface Single-Molecule Identification of Mass-Selected Cyclodextrin-Supported Polyoxovanadates for Multistate Resistive-Switching Memory Applications

Polyoxovanadate anions immobilized on conducting substrates are promising candidates for molecule-based memory technologies. However, strong electronic interactions with the substrate and the formation of larger agglomerates remain bottlenecks on the way to their technical application. We demonstrate that ion soft-landing of mass selected cyclodextrin-functionalized hexavanadates enables deposition of these host–guest complexes as single memory units on surfaces without their quaternary ammonium countercations from solution. Cyclodextrin provides a stabilizing “shell” for the dianions. Multistate switching evidenced by the change in molecular resistance has been detected using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy and attributed to reduction of individual vanadium (+V) centers.