Organic Spintronics

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in organic spintronics, focusing on spin transport, detection methods, experimental results, and challenges in the field.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of organic spintronics, highlighting key experiments, phenomena, and unresolved issues in the use of organic materials for spin transport.

Findings

Successful spin injection and detection demonstrated

Long spin relaxation times observed in some studies

Spurious effects can mimic true spin signals

Abstract

In this paper we review the recent field of organic spintronics, where organic materials are applied as a medium to transport and control spin-polarized signals. The contacts for injecting and detecting spins are formed by metals, oxides, or inorganic semiconductors. First, the basic concepts of spintronics and organic electronics are addressed and phenomena which are in particular relevant for organic spintronics are highlighted. Experiments using different organic materials, including carbon nanotubes, organic thin films, self-assembled monolayers and single molecules are then reviewed. Observed magnetoresistance points toward successful spin injection and detection, but spurious magnetoresitance effects can easily be confused with spin accumulation. A few studies report long spin relaxation times and lengths, which forms a promising basis for further research. We conclude with discussing outstanding questions and problems.