Molecular materials have recently caught the attention of spintronics, and significant efforts are being made towards their integration in this field [1,2]. One of their most attractive aspects for spintronic applications is the weakness of their spin scattering mechanisms, implying that the spin polarization of the carriers can be maintained for a very long time in these materials. Moreover, these materials might have tunable chemical properties, opening a way for the integration of synthetic chemistry into spintronic devices.
In this talk I shall focus on different spintronic devices based on molecular thin films. In the first part, I will show how bathocuproine molecules act as a spacer in hybrid ferromagnetic/organic spin valves [3]. In the second part I will introduce a hot-electron tunnel transistor with C60 fullerene as a collector [4]. In this device, hot-electron magnetoconductance values of up to 90% at room temperature have been recorded. Moreover, this device can operate as a solid-state spectroscopic tool for investigating the energy level alignment between molecules and metals.

[1] L.E. Hueso et al., Nature 445, 410 (2007)
[2] V. Dediu, L.E. Hueso et al., Nature Materials 8, 707 (2009)
[3] X. Sun et al., Nature Commun. (in press)
[4] M. Gobbi et al., Applied Physics Letters 101, 102404 (2012); M. Gobbi et al., (submitted)