Large Conductance Variations in a Mechanosensitive Single-Molecule Junction
arXiv:1804.10789 · doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02810
Abstract
The appealing feature of molecular electronics is the possibility of exploiting functionality built within a single molecule. This functionality can be employed, for example, for sensing or switching purposes. Thus, ideally, the associated conductance changes should be sizable upon application of external stimuli. Here, we show that a molecular spring can be mechanically compressed or elongated to tune its conductance by up to an order of magnitude by controlling the quantum interference between electronic pathways. Oscillations in the conductance occur when the stress built up in the molecule is high enough to allow the anchoring groups to move along the surface in a stick-slip-like fashion. The mechanical control of quantum interference effects and the resulting large change in molecular conductance open the door for applications in, e.g., a minute mechanosensitive sensing device functional at room temperature.
arXiv comment23 pages, 6 figures
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- Variability of the thermal conductance of gold-alkane-gold single-molecule junctions studied using ab-initio and molecular dynamics approaches
- An experimental set up to probe the quantum transport through single atomic/molecular junction at room temperature
- Revealing molecule-internal mechanisms that control phonon heat transport through single-molecule junctions by a genetic algorithm
- Unconventional Electromechanical Response in Ferrocene Assisted Gold Atomic Chain
- Classifying destructive quantum interference in molecular junctions: Towards molecular quantum rulers