Projects per year
Abstract
Molecular tunneling junctions should enable the tailoring of charge-transport at the quantum level through synthetic chemistry but are hindered by the dominance of the electrodes. We show that the frontier orbitals of molecules can be decoupled from the electrodes, preserving their relative energies in self-assembled monolayers even when a top-contact is applied. This decoupling leads to the remarkable observation of tunneling probabilities that increase with distance in a series of oligothiophenes, which we explain using a two-barrier tunneling model. This model is generalizable to any conjugated oligomers for which the frontier orbital gap can be determined and predicts that the molecular orbitals that dominate tunneling charge-transport can be positioned via molecular design rather than by domination of Fermi-level pinning arising from strong hybridization. The ability to preserve the electronic structure of molecules in tunneling junctions facilitates the application of well-established synthetic design rules to tailor the properties of molecular-electronic devices.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 15048-15055 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of the American Chemical Society |
Volume | 140 |
Issue number | 44 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Nov 2018 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Catalysis
- Chemistry(all)
- Biochemistry
- Colloid and Surface Chemistry
Fields of Expertise
- Advanced Materials Science
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Dive into the research topics of 'Tunneling Probability Increases with Distance in Junctions Comprising Self-Assembled Monolayers of Oligothiophenes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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FWF - TRANSIENT - Understanding the transient characteristic of organic transistors
1/03/14 → 28/02/18
Project: Research project