Anisotropic Conductivity at the Single-Molecule Scale

Afsari, Sepideh; Yasini, Parisa; Peng, Haowei; Perdew, John P.; Borguet, Eric

doi:10.1002/anie.201903898

Title: Anisotropic Conductivity at the Single-Molecule Scale

Journal Article · 25 June 2019 · Angewandte Chemie (International Edition)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201903898 · OSTI ID:1767518

Afsari, Sepideh ^[1]; Yasini, Parisa ^[1]; Peng, Haowei ^[1]; Perdew, John P. ^[1];

^[1]

Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)

In most junctions built by wiring a single molecule between two electrodes, the electrons flow along only one axis: between the two anchoring groups. However, molecules can be anisotropic, and an orientation-dependent conductance is expected. Here, we fabricated single-molecule junctions by using the electrode potential to control the molecular orientation and access individual elements of the conductivity tensor. We measured the conductance in two directions, along the molecular plane as the benzene ring bridges two electrodes using anchoring groups (upright) and orthogonal to the molecular plane with the molecule lying flat on the substrate (planar). The perpendicular (planar) conductance is about 400 times higher than that along the molecular plane (upright). Overall, this offers a new method for designing a reversible room-temperature single-molecule electromechanical switch that controllably employs the electrode potential to orient the molecule in the junction in either “ON” or “OFF” conductance states.

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Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Complex Materials from First Principles (CCM); Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012575; CHE-1508567

OSTI ID:: 1767518

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1547600

Journal Information:: Angewandte Chemie (International Edition), Vol. 58, Issue 40; ISSN 1433-7851

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 17 works

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Title: Anisotropic Conductivity at the Single-Molecule Scale

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