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Molecular electronics with single molecules in solid-state devices

Abstract

The ultimate aim of molecular electronics is to understand and master single-molecule devices. Based on the latest results on electron transport in single molecules in solid-state devices, we focus here on new insights into the influence of metal electrodes on the energy spectrum of the molecule, and on how the electron transport properties of the molecule depend on the strength of the electronic coupling between it and the electrodes. A variety of phenomena are observed depending on whether this coupling is weak, intermediate or strong.

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Figure 1: energy levels for a molecule in a metal nanogap.
Figure 2: Molecules that have been used in electron transport measurements and the length dependence of various properties of OPV molecules.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Brøndsted Nielsen for calculating the gas phase addition energies of the OPVs, and S. Kubatkin, H. van der Zant, J. Paaske, K. Flensberg and K. Bechgaard for discussions. The work was supported by the EU FP7 project SINGLE (reference: 213609) and the Danish Research Councils.

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Correspondence to Thomas Bjørnholm.

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Moth-Poulsen, K., Bjørnholm, T. Molecular electronics with single molecules in solid-state devices. Nature Nanotech 4, 551–556 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.176

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