Chemical control over the energy-level alignment in a two-terminal junction

Li Yuan, Carlos Franco, Núria Crivillers, Marta Mas-Torrent, Liang Cao, C. S. Suchand Sangeeth, Concepció Rovira, Jaume Veciana () and Christian A. Nijhuis ()
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Li Yuan: National University of Singapore
Carlos Franco: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Campus de la UAB
Núria Crivillers: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Campus de la UAB
Marta Mas-Torrent: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Campus de la UAB
Liang Cao: National University of Singapore
C. S. Suchand Sangeeth: National University of Singapore
Concepció Rovira: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Campus de la UAB
Jaume Veciana: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Campus de la UAB
Christian A. Nijhuis: National University of Singapore

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The energy-level alignment of molecular transistors can be controlled by external gating to move molecular orbitals with respect to the Fermi levels of the source and drain electrodes. Two-terminal molecular tunnelling junctions, however, lack a gate electrode and suffer from Fermi-level pinning, making it difficult to control the energy-level alignment of the system. Here we report an enhancement of 2 orders of magnitude of the tunnelling current in a two-terminal junction via chemical molecular orbital control, changing chemically the molecular component between a stable radical and its non-radical form without altering the supramolecular structure of the junction. Our findings demonstrate that the energy-level alignment in self-assembled monolayer-based junctions can be regulated by purely chemical modifications, which seems an attractive alternative to control the electrical properties of two-terminal junctions.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12066

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