Electrical molecular switch addressed by chemical stimuli. Issue 18 (30th April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Audi, H.; Viero, Y.; Alwhaibi, N.; Chen, Z.; Iazykov, M.; Heynderickx, A.; Xiao, F.; Guérin, D.; Krzeminski, C.; Grace, I. M.; Lambert, C. J.; Siri, O.; Vuillaume, D.; Lenfant, S.; Klein, H.
• Is Part Of: Nanoscale. Volume 12:Issue 18(2020)
• Page Start: 10127
• Page End: 10139
• Publication Date: 2020-04-30
• Subjects: Nanoscience -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; 620.505
• DOI: 10.1039/d0nr02461a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-3364

Abstract

Abstract : We demonstrate that the conductance switching of benzo-bis(imidazole) molecules upon protonation depends on the lateral functional groups. Abstract : We demonstrate that the conductance switching of benzo-bis(imidazole) molecules upon protonation depends on the lateral functional groups. The protonated H-substituted molecule shows a higher conductance than the neutral one ( G pro > G neu ), while the opposite ( G neu > G pro ) is observed for a molecule laterally functionalized by amino-phenyl groups. These results are demonstrated at various scale lengths: self-assembled monolayers, tiny nanodot-molecule junctions and single molecules. From ab initio theoretical calculations, we conclude that for the H-substituted molecule, the result G pro > G neu is correctly explained by a reduction of the LUMO–HOMO gap, while for the amino-phenyl functionnalized molecule, the result G neu > G pro is consistent with a shift of the HOMO, which reduces the density of states at the Fermi energy.