Temperature-Dependent Tunneling in Furan Oligomer Single-Molecule Junctions.

Two commonly observed charge transport mechanisms in single-molecule junctions are coherent tunneling and incoherent hopping. It has been generally believed that tunneling processes yield temperature-independent conductance behavior and hopping processes exhibit increasing conductance with increasing temperature. However, it has recently been proposed that tunneling can also yield temperature-dependent transport due to the thermal broadening of the Fermi energy of the contacts.

Conductance and configuration of molecular gold-water-gold junctions under electric fields.

Water molecules can mediate charge transfer in biological and chemical reactions by forming electronic coupling pathways. Understanding the mechanism requires a molecular-level electrical characterization of water. Here, we describe the measurement of single water molecular conductance at room temperature, characterize the structure of water molecules using infrared spectroscopy, and perform theoretical studies to assist in the interpretation of the experimental data.

A Memristive Element Based on an Electrically Controlled Single-Molecule Reaction.

The exponential proliferation of data during the information age has required the continuous exploration of novel storage paradigms, materials, and devices with increasing data density. As a step toward the ultimate limits in data density, the development of an electrically controllable single-molecule memristive element is reported. In this device, digital information is encoded through switching between two isomer states by applying a voltage signal to the molecular junction, and the information is read out by monitoring the electrical conductance of each isomer.

An Electromechanical Approach to Understanding Binding Configurations in Single-Molecule Devices.

The configuration of the molecule-electrode contact region plays an important role in determining the conductance of a single-molecule junction, and the variety of possible contact configurations have yielded multiple conductance values for a number of molecular families. In this report, we perform simultaneous conductance and electromechanical coupling parameter measurements on a series of oligophenylene-dithiol single-molecule junctions. These molecules show two distinct conductance values, and by examining the conductance changes, the electromechanical coupling, and the changes in the I- V characteristics coupled with a combination of analytical mechanical models and density functional theory (DFT) structure calculations, we are able to determine the most-probable binding configuration in each of the conductance states.

Effect of Ring Strain on the Charge Transport of a Robust Norbornadiene-Quadricyclane-Based Molecular Photoswitch.

Integrating functional molecules into single-molecule devices is a key step toward the realization of future computing machines based on the smallest possible components. In this context, photoswitching molecules that can make a transition between high and low conductivity in response to light are attractive candidates. Here we present the synthesis and conductance properties of a new type of robust molecular photothermal switch based on the norbornadiene (NB)-quadricyclane (QC) system.