A golden chain linking molecular nanoscience and superconductivity

Molecular nanostructures can now be built with atom precision by combining chemical routes on the surface of gold, unveiling a new paradigm for studying electronic correlations and spin interactions at the molecular scale. Extend these routes to superconductors would open the door of novel methods for addressing these molecular states individually. But superconductors don’t like molecules. Here we show how a thin gold film grown on niobium provides an ideal surface that supports both on-surface chemistry and superconducting correlations. On this platform, chains of magnetic triangulene units retain their topological edge states, whose interaction with the superconductor switches with the odd or even length of the chain. The work opens a route to studying, with atomic precision, how molecular magnetism, topology and superconductivity interact in the same system.