Optical modulation of nano-gap tunnelling junctions comprising self-assembled monolayers of hemicyanine dyes

Parisa Pourhossein, Ratheesh K. Vijayaraghavan, Stefan C. J. Meskers and Ryan C. Chiechi ()
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Parisa Pourhossein: Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen
Ratheesh K. Vijayaraghavan: Molecular Materials and Nanosystems and Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology
Stefan C. J. Meskers: Molecular Materials and Nanosystems and Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology
Ryan C. Chiechi: Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Light-driven conductance switching in molecular tunnelling junctions that relies on photoisomerization is constrained by the limitations of kinetic traps and either by the sterics of rearranging atoms in a densely packed monolayer or the small absorbance of individual molecules. Here we demonstrate light-driven conductance gating; devices comprising monolayers of hemicyanine dyes trapped between two metallic nanowires exhibit higher conductance under irradiation than in the dark. The modulation of the tunnelling current occurs faster than the timescale of the measurement (∼1 min). We propose a mechanism in which a fraction of molecules enters an excited state that brings the conjugated portion of the monolayer into resonance with the electrodes. This mechanism is supported by calculations showing the delocalization of molecular orbitals near the Fermi energy in the excited and cationic states, but not the ground state and a reasonable change in conductance with respect to the effective barrier width.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11749

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