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Ornago L, Zwick P, van der Poel S, Brandl T, El Abbassi M, Perrin ML, Dulić D, van der Zant HSJ, Mayor M. Influence of Peripheral Alkyl Groups on Junction Configurations in Single-Molecule Electronics. THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. C, NANOMATERIALS AND INTERFACES 2024; 128:1413-1422. [PMID: 38293692 PMCID: PMC10823531 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c06970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2023] [Revised: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
The addition of a lateral alkyl chain is a well-known strategy to reduce π-stacked ensembles of molecules in solution, with the intention to minimize the interactions between the molecules' backbones. In this paper, we study whether this concept generalizes to single-molecule junctions by using a combination of mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) measurements and clustering-based data analysis with two small series of model compounds decorated with various bulky groups. The systematic study suggests that introducing alkyl side chains also favors the formation of electrode-molecule configurations that are not observed in their absence, thereby inducing broadening of the conductance peak in the one-dimensional histograms. Thus, the introduction of alkyl chains in aromatic compounds for molecular electronics must be carefully designed and optimized for the specific purpose, balancing between increased solubility and the possibility of additional junction configurations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Ornago
- Kavli
Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University
of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Patrick Zwick
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Sebastiaan van der Poel
- Kavli
Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University
of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Thomas Brandl
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
| | - Maria El Abbassi
- Kavli
Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University
of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Mickael L. Perrin
- Transport
at Nanoscale Interfaces Laboratory, Empa,
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department
of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
- Quantum
Center, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Diana Dulić
- Department
of Physics and Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Physical
and Mathematical Sciences, University of
Chile, Avenida Blanco
Encalada 2008, Santiago 8330015, Chile
| | - Herre S. J. van der Zant
- Kavli
Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University
of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Marcel Mayor
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
- Institute
for Nanotechnology (INT), Karlsruhe Institute
of Technology (KIT), P.O. Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
- Lehn
Institute of Functional Materials (LIFM), School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU), Guangzhou 510275, China
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Li X, Ge W, Guo S, Bai J, Hong W. Characterization and Application of Supramolecular Junctions. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2023; 62:e202216819. [PMID: 36585932 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202216819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Revised: 12/28/2022] [Accepted: 12/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The convergence of supramolecular chemistry and single-molecule electronics offers a new perspective on supramolecular electronics, and provides a new avenue toward understanding and application of intermolecular charge transport at the molecular level. In this review, we will provide an overview of the advances in the characterization technique for the investigation of intermolecular charge transport, and summarize the experimental investigation of several non-covalent interactions, including π-π stacking interactions, hydrogen bonding, host-guest interactions and σ-σ interactions at the single-molecule level. We will also provide a perspective on supramolecular electronics and discuss the potential applications and future challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohui Li
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & College of Materials & IKKEM, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China
| | - Wenhui Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & College of Materials & IKKEM, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China
| | - Shuhan Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & College of Materials & IKKEM, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China
| | - Jie Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & College of Materials & IKKEM, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China
| | - Wenjing Hong
- State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & College of Materials & IKKEM, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China
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3
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Role of molecule-electrode coupling strength in inducing inelastic transmission spectra of Hf@C28. Chem Phys 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphys.2020.110930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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4
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Dubois V, Raja SN, Gehring P, Caneva S, van der Zant HSJ, Niklaus F, Stemme G. Massively parallel fabrication of crack-defined gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps for molecular devices. Nat Commun 2018; 9:3433. [PMID: 30143636 PMCID: PMC6109151 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05785-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2018] [Accepted: 07/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Break junctions provide tip-shaped contact electrodes that are fundamental components of nano and molecular electronics. However, the fabrication of break junctions remains notoriously time-consuming and difficult to parallelize. Here we demonstrate true parallel fabrication of gold break junctions featuring sub-3 nm gaps on the wafer-scale, by relying on a novel self-breaking mechanism based on controlled crack formation in notched bridge structures. We achieve fabrication densities as high as 7 million junctions per cm2, with fabrication yields of around 7% for obtaining crack-defined break junctions with sub-3 nm gaps of fixed gap width that exhibit electron tunneling. We also form molecular junctions using dithiol-terminated oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE3) to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach for electrical probing of molecules down to liquid helium temperatures. Our technology opens a whole new range of experimental opportunities for nano and molecular electronics applications, by enabling very large-scale fabrication of solid-state break junctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Dubois
- Department of Micro and Nanosystems (MST), School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Shyamprasad N Raja
- Department of Micro and Nanosystems (MST), School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Pascal Gehring
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Sabina Caneva
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Herre S J van der Zant
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ, Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Frank Niklaus
- Department of Micro and Nanosystems (MST), School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Göran Stemme
- Department of Micro and Nanosystems (MST), School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Frisenda R, Stefani D, van der Zant HSJ. Quantum Transport through a Single Conjugated Rigid Molecule, a Mechanical Break Junction Study. Acc Chem Res 2018; 51:1359-1367. [PMID: 29862817 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
This Account provides an overview of our recent efforts to unravel charge transport characteristics of a metal-molecule-metal junction containing an individual π-conjugated molecule. The model system of our choice is an oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) consisting of three rings, in short OPE3, which represents a paradigmatic model system for molecular-scale electronics. Members of the OPE family are among the most studied in the field thanks to their simple and rigid structure, the possibility of chemically functionalizing them, and their clear transport characteristics. When investigating charge transport in molecular systems, two general directions can be distinguished: one in which assemblies composed of many molecules contacted in parallel are studied, while in the other a single molecule is investigated at a time. In the former approach, molecule-molecule interactions and ensemble-averaged quantities may play a role, thereby introducing broadening of spectral features and hindering the study of the behavior of individual molecules making it more difficult to deconvolute local and intrinsic molecular effects from collective ones. In contrast, single-molecule experiments directly probe individual molecular features and, when they are repeated many times, allow build up of a statistical representation of the changes introduced by, e.g., different junction configurations. Especially in recent years, experimental techniques have advanced such that now large sets of individual events can be measured and analyzed with statistical tools. To study individual single-molecule junctions, we use the break junction technique, in which two sharp movable electrodes are formed by breaking a thin metallic wire and used to contact a single or few molecules. By probing thousands of single-molecule junctions in different conditions, we show that their creation involves independent events justifying the statistical tools that are used. By combining room- and low-temperature data, we show that the dominant transport mechanism for electrons through the OPE3 molecule is off-resonant tunneling. The simplest model capturing transport details in this case is a single-level model characterized by three parameters: the level alignment of the frontier orbital with the Fermi energy of the leads and the electronic couplings to the leads. Variations in these parameters give a broad distribution (1 order of magnitude) in the observed conductance values, indicating that at the microscopic level both the hybridization with the metallic electrodes and the molecular electronic configuration can fluctuate. The low-temperature data show that these variations are due to abrupt changes in the configuration of the molecule in the junction leading to changes in either one of these parameters or both at the same time. The complementary information gained from different experiments is needed to build up a consistent and extended picture of the variability of molecular configurations, omnipresent in single-molecule studies. Knowledge of this variability can help one to better understand the behavior of molecules at the atomic level and at the metal-molecule interface in particular.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Frisenda
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Delft 2600 GA, The Netherlands
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados de Nanociencia (IMDEA-nanociencia), E-28049 Madrid, Spain
| | - Davide Stefani
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Delft 2600 GA, The Netherlands
| | - Herre S. J. van der Zant
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Delft 2600 GA, The Netherlands
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados de Nanociencia (IMDEA-nanociencia), E-28049 Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain
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6
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Advance of Mechanically Controllable Break Junction for Molecular Electronics. Top Curr Chem (Cham) 2017; 375:61. [DOI: 10.1007/s41061-017-0149-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2016] [Accepted: 05/16/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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7
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Friedman HM, Agarwalla BK, Segal D. Effects of vibrational anharmonicity on molecular electronic conduction and thermoelectric efficiency. J Chem Phys 2017. [DOI: 10.1063/1.4965824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Hava Meira Friedman
- Chemical Physics Theory Group, Department of Chemistry, and Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, University of Toronto, 80 Saint George St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada
| | - Bijay Kumar Agarwalla
- Chemical Physics Theory Group, Department of Chemistry, and Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, University of Toronto, 80 Saint George St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada
| | - Dvira Segal
- Chemical Physics Theory Group, Department of Chemistry, and Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, University of Toronto, 80 Saint George St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada
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Luka-Guth K, Hambsch S, Bloch A, Ehrenreich P, Briechle BM, Kilibarda F, Sendler T, Sysoiev D, Huhn T, Erbe A, Scheer E. Role of solvents in the electronic transport properties of single-molecule junctions. BEILSTEIN JOURNAL OF NANOTECHNOLOGY 2016; 7:1055-67. [PMID: 27547624 PMCID: PMC4979908 DOI: 10.3762/bjnano.7.99] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2016] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
We report on an experimental study of the charge transport through tunnel gaps formed by adjustable gold electrodes immersed into different solvents that are commonly used in the field of molecular electronics (ethanol, toluene, mesitylene, 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, isopropanol, toluene/tetrahydrofuran mixtures) for the study of single-molecule contacts of functional molecules. We present measurements of the conductance as a function of gap width, conductance histograms as well as current-voltage characteristics of narrow gaps and discuss them in terms of the Simmons model, which is the standard model for describing transport via tunnel barriers, and the resonant single-level model, often applied to single-molecule junctions. One of our conclusions is that stable junctions may form from solvents as well and that both conductance-distance traces and current-voltage characteristics have to be studied to distinguish between contacts of solvent molecules and of molecules under study.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sebastian Hambsch
- Physics Department, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Andreas Bloch
- Physics Department, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | | | | | - Filip Kilibarda
- Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, D-01328 Dresden, Germany
| | - Torsten Sendler
- Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, D-01328 Dresden, Germany
| | - Dmytro Sysoiev
- Chemistry Department, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Thomas Huhn
- Chemistry Department, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Artur Erbe
- Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, D-01328 Dresden, Germany
| | - Elke Scheer
- Physics Department, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
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