Search results for "molecular electronics"
showing 10 items of 59 documents
On-surface covalent linking of organic building blocks on a bulk insulator.
2011
On-surface synthesis in ultrahigh vacuum provides a promising strategy for creating thermally and chemically stable molecular structures at surfaces. The two-dimensional confinement of the educts, the possibility of working at higher (or lower) temperatures in the absence of solvent, and the templating effect of the surface bear the potential of preparing compounds that cannot be obtained in solution. Moreover, covalently linked conjugated molecules allow for efficient electron transport and are, thus, particularly interesting for future molecular electronics applications. When having these applications in mind, electrically insulating substrates are mandatory to provide sufficient decoupli…
The gold-sulfur interface at the nanoscale.
2012
Thiolate-protected gold surfaces and interfaces, relevant for self-assembled monolayers of organic molecules on gold, for passivated gold nanoclusters and for molecule-gold junctions, are archetypal systems in various fields of current nanoscience research, materials science, inorganic chemistry and surface science. Understanding this interface at the nanometre scale is essential for a wide range of potential applications for site-specific bioconjugate labelling and sensing, drug delivery and medical therapy, functionalization of gold surfaces for sensing, molecular recognition and molecular electronics, and gold nanoparticle catalysis. During the past five years, considerable experimental …
Dynamic and electronic transport properties of DNA translocation through graphene nanopores
2013
Graphene layers have been targeted in the last years as excellent host materials for sensing a remarkable variety of gases and molecules. Such sensing abilities can also benefit other important scientific fields such as medicine and biology. This has automatically led scientists to probe graphene as a potential platform for sequencing DNA strands. In this work, we use robust numerical tools to model the dynamic and electronic properties of molecular sensor devices composed of a graphene nanopore through which DNA molecules are driven by external electric fields. We performed molecular dynamic simulations to determine the relation between the intensity of the electric field and the transloca…
Characterization of Iron−Carbonyl-Protected Gold Clusters
2009
Ligand-stabilized nanometer-sized gold particles are interesting building blocks for molecular electronics, precursors for catalysts, optical labels for biomolecules and diagnosis, and potential nontoxic carriers for therapeutics. In this work we characterize for the first time, by means of near-infrared and Raman spectroscopy and time-dependent density functional calculations, gold clusters protected with iron-carbonyl ligands, such as {Au(22)[Fe(CO)(4)](12)}(6-) shown in the figure. Surprisingly, our results show that these novel compounds bear many analogues to another, well-studied, class of gold clusters, namely those of thiolate-monolayer-protected gold clusters. Our work adds a new d…
Multiple Decay Mechanisms and 2D-UV Spectroscopic Fingerprints of Singlet Excited Solvated Adenine-Uracil Monophosphate
2016
The decay channels of singlet excited adenine uracil monophosphate (ApU) in water are studied with CASPT2//CASSCF:MM potential energy calculations and simulation of the 2D-UV spectroscopic fingerprints with the aim of elucidating the role of the different electronic states of the stacked conformer in the excited state dynamics. The adenine 1La state can decay without a barrier to a conical intersection with the ground state. In contrast, the adenine 1Lb and uracil S(U) states have minima that are separated from the intersections by sizeable barriers. Depending on the backbone conformation, the CT state can undergo inter-base hydrogen transfer and decay to the ground state through a conical …
Electroburning of few-layer graphene flakes, epitaxial graphene, and turbostratic graphene discs in air and under vacuum
2015
Graphene-based electrodes are very promising for molecular electronics and spintronics. Here we report a systematic characterization of the electroburning (EB) process, leading to the formation of nanometer-spaced gaps, on different types of few-layer graphene (namely mechanically exfoliated graphene on SiO2, graphene epitaxially grown on the C-face of SiC and turbostratic graphene discs deposited on SiO2) under air and vacuum conditions. The EB process is found to depend on both the graphene type and on the ambient conditions. For the mechanically exfoliated graphene, performing EB under vacuum leads to a higher yield of nanometer-gap formation than working in air. Conversely, for graphene…
Dinuclear Iron(II) Spin Crossover Compounds: Singular Molecular Materials for Electronics
2006
Dinuclear spin crossover molecules can adopt three different spin-pair states: a fully diamagnetic low spin state, [LS–LS], with both iron(II) atoms in the LS state; a paramagnetic mixed spin-pair state [LS–HS]; and an antiferromagnetically coupled [HS–HS] state. Stabilisation of the [LS–HS] state depends on a subtle balance between intra- and inter-molecular interactions in the solid state, consequently, the thermal dependence of the physical and structural properties can present one-step or two-step spin transitions. The former case involves the [LS–LS] ↔ [HS–HS] transformation while in the latter case the intermediate stage responsible for the plateau, at 50% conversion between the two s…
Birth of the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance in Monolayer-Protected Gold Nanoclusters
2013
Gold nanoclusters protected by a thiolate monolayer (MPC) are widely studied for their potential applications in site-specific bioconjugate labeling, sensing, drug delivery, and molecular electronics. Several MPCs with 1-2 nm metal cores are currently known to have a well-defined molecular structure, and they serve as an important link between molecularly dispersed gold and colloidal gold to understand the size-dependent electronic and optical properties. Here, we show by using an ab initio method together with atomistic models for experimentally observed thiolate-stabilized gold clusters how collective electronic excitations change when the gold core of the MPC grows from 1.5 to 2.0 nm. A …
ChemInform Abstract: High Electrical Conductance of Single Molecules: A Challenge in the Series of Conjugated Oligomers
2009
En route to molecular electronics: As extended, conjugated oligomers are desirable for molecular electronics, their electrical conductance should display a low attenuation factor. Zinc-complexed oligo(ethynyleneporphyrindiylethynylene)s have been prepared that are distinguished by ultralow attenuation factors in single-molecule conductance.
Signal processing and frequency-dependent associative memory based on nanoswitches
2008
A signal processing concept based on nanoscale switches whose conductance can be tuned by an external stimulus between two (ON and OFF) states is proposed and analyzed theoretically. The building block of the system is formed by a metal nanoparticle linked to two electrodes by an organic ligand and a molecular switch. When we apply an alternating potential to the system of the same frequency as the periodic variation between the ON and OFF states induced on the switch, the net charge delivered by the system exhibits a sharp resonance. This resonance can be used to process an external signal by selectively extracting the weight of the different harmonics. In addition, a frequency-dependent a…