Conductance of small molecular junctions

Ab initiostudy of the alternating current impedance of a molecular junction

The small-bias conductance of the C6 molecule, stretched between two metallic leads, is studied using time-dependent density functional theory within the adiabatic local density approximation. The leads are modeled by jellium slabs, the electronic density and the current density are described on a grid, whereas the core electrons and the highly oscillating valence orbitals are approximated using standard norm-conserving pseudopotentials. The jellium leads are supplemented by a complex absorbing potential that serves to absorb charge reaching the edge of the electrodes and hence mimic irreversible flow into the macroscopic metal. The system is rapidly exposed to a ramp potential directed along the C6 axis, which gives rise to the onset of charge and current oscillations. As time progresses, a fast redistribution of the molecular charge is observed, which translates into a direct current response. Accompanying the dc signal, alternating current fluctuations of charge and currents within the molecule and the metallic leads are observed. These form the complex impedance of the molecule and are especially strong at the plasmon frequency of the leads and the lowest excitation peak of C6. We study the molecular conductance in two limits: the strong coupling limit, where the edge atoms of the chain are submerged in the jellium and the weak coupling case, where the carbon atoms and the leads do not overlap spatially.

Electrical Transport Study of Phenylene-Based π-Conjugated Molecules in a Three-Terminal Geometry

We fabricated three-terminal devices with conjugated molecules. Two different device layouts were used to measure both very short molecules (with one or two benzene rings) and relatively long ones (as long as 8 nm). To achieve an optimum gate effect, we used aluminum gates covered with a very thin native oxide layer. Molecules with thiol end groups were positioned between the source and drain electrodes by self-assembly. The device yield was low for short molecules, most likely due to defects in the self-assembled monolayers. Most of the devices made with short molecules did not show any gate effect at all; a small gate effect was only observed in two samples made with 1,3-benzenedithiol. Some devices showed clear negative differential conductance peaks. In some devices made with long molecules, we observed a small change of conductance with gate voltage.

Molecular Recognition and Conductance in Crown Ethers

Crown ethers have the remarkable property of recognizing and binding specific metal cations in complex mixtures. We propose to combine molecular recognition with molecular electric conductance. The question we address is: can the event of binding a cation be sensed by a change in conductance? Specifically, we study a short molecular wire (MW) containing a crown-6 molecule connected via sulfur atoms to two gold atomic wires acting as metallic leads. Upon binding a cation, the density of states of the system is only slightly affected. This reflects the fact that the cation binding is largely electrostatic in nature and is accompanied by little electronic reorganization. Yet, the cationic binding does significantly lower conductance. We also identify strong interference affecting the conductance. A striking feature is the insensitivity of conductance to the type of ligand with the exception of the proton.

Single-electron transistor of a single organic molecule with access to several redox states

A combination of classical Coulomb charging, electronic level spacings, spin, and vibrational modes determines the single-electron transfer reactions through nanoscale systems connected to external electrodes by tunnelling barriers. Coulomb charging effects have been shown to dominate such transport in semiconductor quantum dots, metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and single molecules. Recently, transport has been shown to be also influenced by spin--through the Kondo effect--for both nanotubes and single molecules, as well as by vibrational fine structure. Here we describe a single-electron transistor where the electronic levels of a single pi-conjugated molecule in several distinct charged states control the transport properties. The molecular electronic levels extracted from the single-electron-transistor measurements are strongly perturbed compared to those of the molecule in solution, leading to a very significant reduction of the gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. We suggest, and verify by simple model calculations, that this surprising effect could be caused by image charges generated in the source and drain electrodes resulting in a strong localization of the charges on the molecule.