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Realization of the Kagome antiferromagnetic (KAF) lattice is of high interest because the geometric frustration in the Kagome lattice is expected to give rise to highly degenerated ground states that may host exotic phases such as quantum spin liquid. Here we demonstrate the design and synthesis of a single-layer two-dimensional metal-organic framework (2D-MOF) containing a Kagome lattice of Fe(II) ions assembled on a Au(111) surface. First-principles calculations reveal that the Fe(II) ions are at a high spin state of S = 2 and are coupled antiferromagnetically with nearest-neighboring exchange J1 = 5.8 meV. The ground state comprises various degenerated spin configurations including the well-known q = 0 and q = √3 × √3 phases. Remarkably, we observe a spin excitation at 6 meV using tunneling spectroscopy. This work points out a feasible route toward realizing spin 1/2 KAF, a candidate quantum spin liquid system, by replacing Fe(II) by Cu(II) in the same structure.

On-surface metal-organic nanoporous networks generally refer to adatom coordinated molecular arrays, which are characterized by the presence of well-defined and regular nanopores. These periodic structures constructed using two types of components confine the surface electrons of the substrate within their nanocavities. However, the confining (or scattering) strength that individual building units exhibit is a priori unknown. Here, we study the modification of the substrate’s surface electrons by the interaction with a Cu-coordinated TPyB metal-organic network formed on Cu(111) and disentangle the scattering potentials and confinement properties. By means of STM and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we find almost unperturbed free-electron-like states stemming from the rather weak electron confinement that yields significant coupling between adjacent pores. Electron plane wave expansion simulations match the superlattice induced experimental electronic structure, which features replicating bands and energy renormalization effects. Notably, the electrostatic potential landscape obtained from our ab initio calculations suggests that the molecules are the dominant scattering entities while the coordination metal atoms sandwiched between them act as leaky channels. These metal atom transmission conduits facilitate and enhance the coupling among quantum dots, which are prone to be exploited to engineer the electronic structure of surface electron gases., Financial support is acknowledged from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO, Grants No. MAT2016-78293-C6 and No. FIS2016-75862-P), from the regional Government of Aragon (Grant No. E12-17R), from the Basque Government (Grant No. IT-1255-19), from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the program Interreg V-A España-Francia-Andorra (Contract No. EFA 194/16 TNSI) and from the Hong Kong RGC 16304016.

Symmetry breaking in graphene has profound impacts on its physical properties. Here we emulate symmetry breaking in artificial graphene systems by assembling coronene molecules on a Cu(111) surface. We apply two strategies: (1) differentiating the on-site energy of two sublattices of a honeycomb lattice and (2) uniaxially compressing a honeycomb lattice. The first one breaks the inversion symmetry while the second one merges the Dirac cones. The scanning tunneling spectroscopy shows that in both cases the local density of states undergo characteristic changes. Muffin-tin simulations reveal that the observed changes are associated with a band gap opened at the Dirac point. Furthermore, we propose that using larger molecules or molecules strongly scattering the surface state electrons can induce an indirect gap.