Electron Transport in Single Molecules Measured by a Distance-Modulation Assisted Break Junction Method
- 11 June 2008
- journal article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Nano Letters
- Vol. 8 (7), 1960-1964
- https://doi.org/10.1021/nl080857a
Abstract
We describe a method to determine whether a measured current in a break junction is due to electron tunneling via space or conduction through a molecule bridged between two electrodes. By modulating the electrode separation, we monitor both the DC and the AC components of the current. The AC component indicates if a molecule is connected to the electrodes while the DC component is the transport current through the molecule. This method allows us to remove the tunneling background from conductance histograms and unambiguously measure the I−V characteristic of single molecules. Furthermore, it provides valuable information about the electromechanical properties of single molecules.Keywords
This publication has 20 references indexed in Scilit:
- Molecular Transport Junctions: Clearing MistsAdvanced Materials, 2007
- Conductance of redox-active single molecular junctions: an electrochemical approachNanotechnology, 2006
- Electron transport in molecular junctionsNature Nanotechnology, 2006
- Electrical Conductance of Molecular Junctions by a Robust Statistical AnalysisNano Letters, 2006
- Conductance of α-Helical Peptides Trapped within Molecular JunctionsThe Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2006
- Interpretation of Stochastic Events in Single Molecule Conductance MeasurementsNano Letters, 2006
- Conductance of Single Alkanedithiols: Conduction Mechanism and Effect of Molecule−Electrode ContactsJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2006
- Measuring single molecule conductance with break junctionsFaraday Discussions, 2005
- Comparison of Electronic Transport Measurements on Organic MoleculesAdvanced Materials, 2003
- Measurement of Single-Molecule Resistance by Repeated Formation of Molecular JunctionsScience, 2003