Low Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule Junctions

Abstract One key issue for the development of molecular electronic devices is to understand the electron transport of single-molecule junctions. In this work, we explore the electron transport of iodine-terminated alkane single molecular junctions using the scanning tunneling microscope-based break...

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Main Authors: Lin-Lu Peng, Bing Huang, Qi Zou, Ze-Wen Hong, Ju-Fang Zheng, Yong Shao, Zhen-Jiang Niu, Xiao-Shun Zhou, Hu-Jun Xie, Wenbo Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2018-04-01
Series:Nanoscale Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-018-2528-z
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spelling doaj-a07759d12ac14938b33a21c05d6a34922020-11-25T01:18:37ZengSpringerOpenNanoscale Research Letters1931-75731556-276X2018-04-011311610.1186/s11671-018-2528-zLow Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule JunctionsLin-Lu Peng0Bing Huang1Qi Zou2Ze-Wen Hong3Ju-Fang Zheng4Yong Shao5Zhen-Jiang Niu6Xiao-Shun Zhou7Hu-Jun Xie8Wenbo Chen9Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal UniversityShanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Protection and Advanced Materials in Electric Power, Shanghai University of Electric PowerKey Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal UniversityDepartment of Applied Chemistry, Zhejiang Gongshang UniversityShanghai Key Laboratory of Materials Protection and Advanced Materials in Electric Power, Shanghai University of Electric PowerAbstract One key issue for the development of molecular electronic devices is to understand the electron transport of single-molecule junctions. In this work, we explore the electron transport of iodine-terminated alkane single molecular junctions using the scanning tunneling microscope-based break junction approach. The result shows that the conductance decreases exponentially with the increase of molecular length with a decay constant β N = 0.5 per –CH2 (or 4 nm−1). Importantly, the tunneling decay of those molecular junctions is much lower than that of alkane molecules with thiol, amine, and carboxylic acid as the anchoring groups and even comparable to that of the conjugated oligophenyl molecules. The low tunneling decay is attributed to the small barrier height between iodine-terminated alkane molecule and Au, which is well supported by DFT calculations. The work suggests that the tunneling decay can be effectively tuned by the anchoring group, which may guide the manufacturing of molecular wires.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-018-2528-zElectron transportBarrier heightSingle molecular junctionIodineAlkyl-based molecules
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Lin-Lu Peng
Bing Huang
Qi Zou
Ze-Wen Hong
Ju-Fang Zheng
Yong Shao
Zhen-Jiang Niu
Xiao-Shun Zhou
Hu-Jun Xie
Wenbo Chen
spellingShingle Lin-Lu Peng
Bing Huang
Qi Zou
Ze-Wen Hong
Ju-Fang Zheng
Yong Shao
Zhen-Jiang Niu
Xiao-Shun Zhou
Hu-Jun Xie
Wenbo Chen
Low Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule Junctions
Nanoscale Research Letters
Electron transport
Barrier height
Single molecular junction
Iodine
Alkyl-based molecules
author_facet Lin-Lu Peng
Bing Huang
Qi Zou
Ze-Wen Hong
Ju-Fang Zheng
Yong Shao
Zhen-Jiang Niu
Xiao-Shun Zhou
Hu-Jun Xie
Wenbo Chen
author_sort Lin-Lu Peng
title Low Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule Junctions
title_short Low Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule Junctions
title_full Low Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule Junctions
title_fullStr Low Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule Junctions
title_full_unstemmed Low Tunneling Decay of Iodine-Terminated Alkane Single-Molecule Junctions
title_sort low tunneling decay of iodine-terminated alkane single-molecule junctions
publisher SpringerOpen
series Nanoscale Research Letters
issn 1931-7573
1556-276X
publishDate 2018-04-01
description Abstract One key issue for the development of molecular electronic devices is to understand the electron transport of single-molecule junctions. In this work, we explore the electron transport of iodine-terminated alkane single molecular junctions using the scanning tunneling microscope-based break junction approach. The result shows that the conductance decreases exponentially with the increase of molecular length with a decay constant β N = 0.5 per –CH2 (or 4 nm−1). Importantly, the tunneling decay of those molecular junctions is much lower than that of alkane molecules with thiol, amine, and carboxylic acid as the anchoring groups and even comparable to that of the conjugated oligophenyl molecules. The low tunneling decay is attributed to the small barrier height between iodine-terminated alkane molecule and Au, which is well supported by DFT calculations. The work suggests that the tunneling decay can be effectively tuned by the anchoring group, which may guide the manufacturing of molecular wires.
topic Electron transport
Barrier height
Single molecular junction
Iodine
Alkyl-based molecules
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-018-2528-z
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