Coherent electron transport through an azobenzene molecule: A light-driven molecular switch

Abstract

We apply a first-principles computational approach to study a light-sensitive molecular switch. The molecule that comprises the switch can convert between a trans and a cis configuration upon photo-excitation. We find that the conductance of the two isomers vary dramatically, which suggests that this system has potential application as a molecular device. A detailed analysis of the band structure of the metal leads and the local density of states of the system reveals the mechanism of the switch.

11 pages, 4 figures

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Tuning the conductance of a molecular switch
• Density functional calculations of nanoscale conductance
• High on-off conductance switching ratio in optically-driven self-assembled conjugated molecular systems
• Switching mechanism of photochromic diarylethene derivatives molecular junctions
• Photoconductance of organic single-molecule contacts
• Laser-induced currents along molecular wire junctions
• Current rectification by asymmetric molecules: An ab initio study
• Electronic and transport properties of azobenzene monolayer junctions as molecular switches
• Reversible magnetism switching in graphene-based systems via the decoration of photochromic molecules
• Ab initio study of single molecular transistor modulated by gate-bias
• Electronic and Transport Properties of Molecular Junctions under a Finite Bias: A Dual Mean Field Approach
• Using Light-Switching Molecules to Modulate Charge Mobility in a Quantum Dot Array
• First-principles study of multi-control graphene doping using light-switching molecules
• First-principles study of magnetism and electric field effects in 2D systems
• Rigidity of the conductance of anchored dithioazobenzene opto-mechanical switch
• Effects of relative orientation of the molecules on electron transport in molecular devices