Zigzag graphene nanoribbons with periodic porphyrin edge extensions

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with zigzag edges are promising materials for spintronic devices due to their tunable bandgaps and spin-polarized edge states. Porphyrins offer complementary benefits, including desirable optoelectronic properties and the incorporated metal centers as qubits for quantum computing. In a recent manuscript, we combine these features in a hybrid system via the on-surface synthesis of zigzag-edge GNRs embedded with porphyrins laterally fused along the ribbon backbone. Using scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopy, we show that this innovative design achieves strong electronic coupling between porphyrin and GNR, with the porphyrin metal center inducing significant alterations in the electronic band structure. For transition metal porphyrins, significant exchange coupling between distant metal centers is mediated by the GNR's π-electron system, along with enhanced spin polarization of the ZGNR backbone edge state. Such hybrid d- and π-electron ribbon system introduces spin-orbit coupling and magnetic anisotropy to carbon nanomaterials, and holds great promise for the fabrication of one-dimensional spin qubit arrays. This record contains data supporting the results discussed in the manuscript.