Constructing Dual-Molecule Junctions to Probe Intermolecular Crosstalk
- 8 July 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Vol. 12 (27), 30584-30590
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c01556
Abstract
Understanding and controlling charge transport across multiple parallel molecules are fundamental to the creation of innovative functional electronic components, as future molecular devices will likely be multimolecular. The smallest possible molecular ensemble to address this challenge is a dual-molecule junction device, which has potential to unravel the effects of intermolecular crosstalk on electronic transport at the molecular level that cannot be elucidated using either conventional single-molecule or self-assembled monolayer (SAM) techniques. Herein, we demonstrate the fabrication of a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) dual-molecule junction device, which utilizes noncovalent interactions and allows for direct comparison to the conventional STM single-molecule device. STM-break junction (BJ) measurements reveal a decrease in conductance of 10% per molecule from the dual-molecule to the single-molecule junction device. Quantum transport simulations indicate that this decrease is attributable to intermolecular crosstalk (i.e., intermolecular pi-pi interactions), with possible contributions from substrate- mediated coupling (i.e., molecule-electrode). This study provides the first experimental evidence to interpret intermolecular crosstalk in electronic transport at the STM-BJ level and translates the experimental observations into meaningful molecular information to enhance our fundamental knowledge of this subject matter. This approach is pertinent to the design and development of future multimolecular electronic components and also to other dual-molecular systems where such crosstalk is mediated by various noncovalent intermolecular interactions (e.g., electrostatic and hydrogen bonding).Funding Information
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (CCNU19TS008)
- Australian Research Council (CE140100003, DP180101581)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (21173094, 21573086, 21573198, 21872062, 21872126)
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LR15B030002)
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- Backbone-Constrained Peptides: Temperature and Secondary Structure Affect Solid-State Electron TransportThe Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2019
- Peptides as Bio-Inspired Electronic Materials: An Electrochemical and First-Principles PerspectiveAccounts of Chemical Research, 2018
- Tuning electronic transport via hepta-alanine peptides junction by tryptophan dopingProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016
- Conductance Superposition Rule in Carbon Nanowire Junctions with Parallel PathsThe Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2016
- The Correlation of Electrochemical Measurements and Molecular Junction Conductance Simulations in β‐Strand PeptidesChemistry – A European Journal, 2015
- Unraveling the Interplay of Backbone Rigidity and Electron Rich Side-Chains on Electron Transfer in Peptides: The Realization of Tunable Molecular WiresJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2014
- Visions for a molecular futureNature Nanotechnology, 2013
- Self-Assembled Monolayers of Thiolates on Metals as a Form of NanotechnologyChemical Reviews, 2005
- Intermolecular effect in molecular electronicsThe Journal of Chemical Physics, 2005
- Through-Bond and Chain-to-Chain Coupling. Two Pathways in Electron Tunneling through Liquid Alkanethiol Monolayers on Mercury ElectrodesJournal of the American Chemical Society, 1997