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Randel JC, Niestemski FC, Botello-Mendez AR, Mar W, Ndabashimiye G, Melinte S, Dahl JEP, Carlson RMK, Butova ED, Fokin AA, Schreiner PR, Charlier JC, Manoharan HC. Unconventional molecule-resolved current rectification in diamondoid-fullerene hybrids. Nat Commun 2014; 5:4877. [PMID: 25202942 PMCID: PMC4164769 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2013] [Accepted: 07/31/2014] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The unimolecular rectifier is a fundamental building block of molecular electronics. Rectification in single molecules can arise from electron transfer between molecular orbitals displaying asymmetric spatial charge distributions, akin to p-n junction diodes in semiconductors. Here we report a novel all-hydrocarbon molecular rectifier consisting of a diamantane-C60 conjugate. By linking both sp(3) (diamondoid) and sp(2) (fullerene) carbon allotropes, this hybrid molecule opposingly pairs negative and positive electron affinities. The single-molecule conductances of self-assembled domains on Au(111), probed by low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, reveal a large rectifying response of the molecular constructs. This specific electronic behaviour is postulated to originate from the electrostatic repulsion of diamantane-C60 molecules due to positively charged terminal hydrogen atoms on the diamondoid interacting with the top electrode (scanning tip) at various bias voltages. Density functional theory computations scrutinize the electronic and vibrational spectroscopic fingerprints of this unique molecular structure and corroborate the unconventional rectification mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason C Randel
- 1] SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Francis C Niestemski
- 1] SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Andrés R Botello-Mendez
- Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Warren Mar
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Georges Ndabashimiye
- 1] SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
| | - Sorin Melinte
- Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Jeremy E P Dahl
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
| | - Robert M K Carlson
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
| | - Ekaterina D Butova
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Justus-Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen, Germany
| | - Andrey A Fokin
- 1] Institute of Organic Chemistry, Justus-Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen, Germany [2] Department of Organic Chemistry, Kiev Polytechnic Institute, UA-03056 Kiev, Ukraine
| | - Peter R Schreiner
- Institute of Organic Chemistry, Justus-Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen, Germany
| | - Jean-Christophe Charlier
- Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences, Université catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Hari C Manoharan
- 1] SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA [2] Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
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Cretu O, Botello-Mendez AR, Janowska I, Pham-Huu C, Charlier JC, Banhart F. Electrical transport measured in atomic carbon chains. Nano Lett 2013; 13:3487-3493. [PMID: 23879314 DOI: 10.1021/nl4018918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The first electrical-transport measurements of monatomic carbon chains are reported in this study. The chains were obtained by unraveling carbon atoms from graphene ribbons while an electrical current flowed through the ribbon and, successively, through the chain. The formation of the chains was accompanied by a characteristic drop in the electrical conductivity. The conductivity of the chains was much lower than previously predicted for ideal chains. First-principles calculations using both density functional and many-body perturbation theory show that strain in the chains has an increasing effect on the conductivity as the length of the chains increases. Indeed, carbon chains are always under varying nonzero strain that transforms their atomic structure from the cumulene to the polyyne configuration, thus inducing a tunable band gap. The modified electronic structure and the characteristics of the contact to the graphitic periphery explain the low conductivity of the locally constrained carbon chain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ovidiu Cretu
- Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux, Université de Strasbourg, UMR 7504 CNRS, Strasbourg, France
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