Current rectification in a single molecule diode: the role of electrode coupling.
We demonstrate large rectification ratios (> 100) in single-molecule junctions based on a metal-oxide cluster (polyoxometalate), using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) both at ambient conditions and at low temperature. These rectification ratios are the largest ever observed in a single-molecule junction, and in addition these junctions sustain current densities larger than 10^5 A/cm^2. By following the variation of the I-V characteristics with tip-molecule separation we demonstrate unambiguously that rectification is due to asymmetric coupling to the electrodes of a molecule with an asymmetric level structure. This mechanism can be implemented in other type of molecular junctions u…
Enhanced superconductivity in atomically thin TaS2
The ability to exfoliate layered materials down to the single layer limit has presented the opportunity to understand how a gradual reduction in dimensionality affects the properties of bulk materials. Here we use this top–down approach to address the problem of superconductivity in the two-dimensional limit. The transport properties of electronic devices based on 2H tantalum disulfide flakes of different thicknesses are presented. We observe that superconductivity persists down to the thinnest layer investigated (3.5 nm), and interestingly, we find a pronounced enhancement in the critical temperature from 0.5 to 2.2 K as the layers are thinned down. In addition, we propose a tight-binding …
Tetrathiafulvalene-based molecular nanowires.
A new molecular wire suitably functionalized with sulfur atoms at terminal positions and endowed with a central redox active TTF unit has been synthesized and inserted within two atomic-sized Au electrodes; electrical transport measurements have been performed in STM and MCBJ set-ups in a liquid environment and reveal conductance values around 10(-2) G0 for a single molecule.