Understanding the Kondo resonance in the d-CoPc/Au(111) adsorption system.

Abstract

By combining the density functional theory (DFT) and a hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach, we investigate the Kondo phenomena in a composite system consisting of a dehydrogenated cobalt phthalocyanine molecule (d-CoPc) adsorbed on an Au(111) surface. DFT calculations are performed to determine the ground-state geometric and electronic structures of the adsorption system. It is found that the singly occupied dz(2) orbital of Co forms a localized spin, which could be screened by the substrate conduction electrons. This screening leads to the prominent Kondo features as observed in the scanning tunneling microscopy experiments. We then employ the HEOM approach to characterize the Kondo correlations of the adsorption system. The calculated temperature-dependent differential conductance spectra and the predicted Kondo temperature agree well with the experiments, and the universal Kondo scaling behavior is correctly reproduced. This work thus provides important insights into the relevant experiments, and it also highlights the applicability of the combined DFT+HEOM approach to the studies of strongly correlated condensed matter systems.