A Molecular Platinum Cluster Junction: A Single-Molecule Switch

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of the electronic transport through single-molecule junctions incorporating a Pt6 metal cluster bound within an organic framework. We show that the insertion of this molecule between a pair of electrodes leads to a fully atomically engineered nano-metallic device with high conductance at the Fermi level and two sequential high on/off switching states. The origin of this property can be traced back to the existence of a HOMO which consists of two degenerate and asymmetric orbitals, lying close in energy to the Fermi level of the metallic leads. Their degeneracy is broken when the molecule is contacted to the leads, giving rise to two resonances which become pinned close to the Fermi level and display destructive interference.

4 pages, 4 figures. Reprinted (adapted) with permission from J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135 (6), 2052. Copyright 2013 American Chemical Society

References in corpus (6)

• Observation of Quantum Interference in Molecular Charge Transport
• Electron transport through single Mn12 molecular magnets
• Giant thermopower and figure of merit in single-molecule devices
• Polarization-induced renormalization of molecular levels at metallic and semiconducting surfaces
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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Tuning the thermal conductance of molecular junctions with interference effects
• Resonant transport and electrostatic effects in single-molecule electrical junctions