Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
| <mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 18/10/2011 |
|---|---|
| <mark>Journal</mark> | Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology |
| Volume | 2 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Pages (from-to) | 699-713 |
| Publication Status | Published |
| <mark>Original language</mark> | English |
pi-Conjugation plays an important role in charge transport through single molecular junctions. We describe in this paper the construction of a mechanically controlled break-junction setup (MCBJ) equipped with a highly sensitive log I-V converter in order to measure ultralow conductances of molecular rods trapped between two gold leads. The current resolution of the setup reaches down to 10 fA. We report single-molecule conductance measurements of an anthracene-based linearly conjugated molecule (AC), of an anthraquinone-based cross-conjugated molecule (AQ), and of a dihydroanthracene-based molecule (AH) with a broken conjugation. The quantitative analysis of complementary current-distance and current-voltage measurements revealed details of the influence of p-conjugation on the single-molecule conductance.