Main > ELECTRONICS. > Molecular Electronics > Gold NanoParticles/DiThiol/2 Au El > Org.: Israel. W. (Research) > Report Abstract

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New technique applies contacts to a single molecule

A novel method for forming electrical contacts with single organic molecules may potentially facilitate the development of molecular electronic devices, its developers say. Main Author, prepared a bridged dimer structure consisting of two gold nanoparticles connected by a single dithiolated organic molecule by mixing a solution of the dithiol with a gold colloid. They isolated dimeric colloidal particles from this mixture by centrifugation. Electrostatic trapping of a dimer between two gold electrodes on a silicon substrate enabled the current-voltage characteristics of the single molecule to be measured. The group used the technique to investigate the electrical conduction through three molecules: 4,4 -biphenyldithiol (BPD), a fully conjugated molecule, and bis-(4-mercaptophenyl)-ether (BPE) and 1,4-benzenedimethanethiol (BDMT), in which conjugation is broken by an oxygen atom and methylene groups, respectively. "We find that the oxygen in BPE and the methylene groups in BDMT both suppress the electrical conduction relative to that in BPD," the authors note.




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