Daaoub, Abdalghani, Morris, James MF, Béland, Vanessa A ORCID: 0000-0002-8904-1671, Demay‐Drouhard, Paul ORCID: 0000-0003-2270-1177, Hussein, Amaar, Higgins, Simon J ORCID: 0000-0003-3518-9061, Sadeghi, Hatef ORCID: 0000-0001-5398-8620, Nichols, Richard J ORCID: 0000-0002-1446-8275, Vezzoli, Andrea ORCID: 0000-0002-8059-0113, Baumgartner, Thomas ORCID: 0000-0001-8066-0559 et al (show 1 more authors)
(2023)
Not So Innocent After All: Interfacial Chemistry Determines Charge‐Transport Efficiency in Single‐Molecule Junctions.
Angewandte Chemie, 135 (24).
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Most studies in molecular electronics focus on altering the molecular wire backbone to tune the electrical properties of the whole junction. However, it is often overlooked that the chemical structure of the groups anchoring the molecule to the metallic electrodes influences the electronic structure of the whole system and, therefore, its conductance. We synthesised electron‐accepting dithienophosphole oxide derivatives and fabricated their single‐molecule junctions. We found that the anchor group has a dramatic effect on charge‐transport efficiency: in our case, electron‐deficient 4‐pyridyl contacts suppress conductance, while electron‐rich 4‐thioanisole termini promote efficient transport. Our calculations show that this is due to minute changes in charge distribution, probed at the electrode interface. Our findings provide a framework for efficient molecular junction design, especially valuable for compounds with strong electron withdrawing/donating backbones.</jats:p>
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Physical Sciences |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
Date Deposited: | 29 Sep 2023 15:44 |
Last Modified: | 29 Sep 2023 15:45 |
DOI: | 10.1002/ange.202302150 |
Open Access URL: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202302150 |
Related URLs: | |
URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3173243 |