Introduction

The co-deposition of nickel and chiral compounds leads to functionalised electrodes which characteristics are interesting and exploitable in multiple scientific and technological areas

Technical features

By adding a chiral compound in the classical nickel electrodeposition bath (Watts bath) it is possible to co-deposit the metal and the organic substance; thus, the electrodeposited nichel acquires a chiral imprinting which most interesting manifestation is the spin filtering property, namely the Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) effect, which assess that the electron transport through a chiral molecule is spin specific. The spin filtering property manifests the same magnitude but opposite behaviour considering two enantiomers of a single chiral compound. The chiral imprinted nickel electrode is thus a simple yet effective tool to perform Spin Dependent Electrochemistry (SDE) measurements and is a proper sensor for enantiorecongition. Furthermore, the spin filtering property is a valid starting point for the development of the modern electronic devices used for data storage known as spin valves.

Possible Applications

• Sensor: enantiomer recognition;
• Electrochemistry: suitable to determine the role of the electron spin;
• Electronics and spintronics: exploitable for new spin valves arrangements;
• Functional materials: innovative method for organic/inorganic hybrid materials preparation

Advantages

• High spin-polarization performance;
• Simple preparation;
• Cheap.