Rectification and negative differential resistance via orbital level pinning.

A donor-acceptor system, 4-thiophenyl-azafulleroid (4TPA-C), is investigated at the point of HOMO/LUMO resonance and beyond to understand how negative differential resistance (NDR) features may be observed in such systems. Our previous investigation showed that charge transfer between the occupied and unoccupied states at resonance hindered crossing of the HOMO and LUMO levels, thus preventing the formation of an NDR feature. In this work, it is shown that the negative differential resistance feature of 4TPA-C can be tailored based on the couplings at the metal/molecule interface.

HOMO-LUMO coupling: the fourth rule for highly effective molecular rectifiers.

Three rules for creating highly effective unimolecular rectifiers that utilize asymmetric anchoring groups have been proposed by Van Dyck and Ratner [Ratner et al., Nano Lett., 2015, 15, 1577-1584].

Non-Close-Packed Breath Figures via Ion-Partitioning-Mediated Self-Assembly.

We report a one-step method of forming non-close-packed (NCP) pore arrays of micro- and sub-micropores using chloroform-based solutions of polystyrene acidified with hydrogen bromide for breath figure (BF) patterning. As BF patterning takes place, water vapor condenses onto the polystyrene solution, forming water droplets on the solution surface. Concurrently, preferential ion partitioning of hydrogen bromide leads to positively charged water droplets, which experience interdroplet electrostatic repulsion.