Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: We demonstrate that the conductance switching of benzo-bis(imidazole) molecules upon protonation depends on the lateral functional groups. The protonated H-substituted molecule shows a higher conductance than the neutral one (Gpro > Gneu), while the opposite (Gneu > Gpro) is observed for a molecule laterally functionalized by amino-phenyl groups. These results are demonstrated at various scale lengths: self-assembled monolayers, tiny nanodot-molecule junctions and single molecules. From ab initio theoretical calculations, we conclude that for the H-substituted molecule, the result Gpro > Gneu is correctly explained by a reduction of the LUMO-HOMO gap, while for the amino-phenyl functionnalized molecule, the result Gneu > Gpro is consistent with a shift of the HOMO, which reduces the density of states at the Fermi energy.
Source: Nanoscale
DOI: 10.1039/d0nr02461a
Authors: H. Audi, Y. Viero, N. Alwhaibi, Z. Chen, M. Iazykov, A. Heynderickx, F. Xiao, D. Guérin, C. Krzeminski, I. M. Grace, C. J. Lambert, O. Siri, D. Vuillaume, S. Lenfant, H. Klein
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Quantum Interference Enhanced Thermoelectricity, G137764975, Four states molecular device, G2986216626, G3727393138, Quantum-Interference-Enhanced Thermoelectricity (QUIET)., Supramolecular Nanorings for Exploring Quantum Interference, G6671018557, G8069339734, Quantum Effects in Electronic Nanodevices (QuEEN), Self-assembled molecular monolayers with ultra-low thermal conductance for energy harvesting (QSAMs)
OpenAlex ID: W3017675614