Molecular rectification in metal–bridge molecule–metal junctions

✍ Scribed by Yaqing Liu; Andreas Offenhäusser; Dirk Mayer

• Book ID: 105365772
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 507 KB
• Volume: 207
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-8965
• DOI: 10.1002/pssa.200983318

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Molecular bridged nanocontacts allow direct electrical addressing of electroactive molecules, which is of interest for the development of molecular based electronic devices. In the present paper, the electroactive molecule 6‐ferrocenyl‐1‐hexanethiol (Fc‐HT) was integrated into metal–bridge–metal (MBM) junctions assembled in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) setup. A diode‐like behavior was observed from the current/bias (I~t~/V~b~) signal through Au (substrate)/Fc‐HT/Au (tip) junction, which presented an asymmetric current response due to the resonant tunneling between metal electrode and ferrocenylthiol molecules. With gate electrode modulation, the enhancement of the tunneling current can be controlled, which allows to tune the direction of the current rectification. Our investigations demonstrated that ferrocenylthiol bridged MBM nanostructure has potential applications in the future design of higher‐order heterojunctions components in combination with electrochemical logic gates.