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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Charge transfer complexation boosts molecular conductance through Fermi level pinning
AU - Wang, K.
AU - Vezzoli, A.
AU - Grace, I.
AU - McLaughlin, M.
AU - Nichols, R.J.
AU - Xu, B.
AU - Lambert, C.J.
AU - Higgins, S.J.
N1 - Funding details: ECCS 1609788, ECCS 1231967 Funding details: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EP/H035184/1, EP/M005046/1, EP/ H035818/1 Funding text 1: This work was supported by UK EPSRC under grants EP/ H035818/1 (Medium Effects in Single-Molecule Electronics, Lancaster), EP/H035184/1 (Medium Effects in Single-Molecule Electronics, Liverpool) EP/M005046/1 (Single-Molecule Photo-Spintronics, Liverpool) and by US NSF grants ECCS 1609788 and ECCS 1231967 (Athens).
PY - 2019/2/28
Y1 - 2019/2/28
N2 - Interference features in the transmission spectra can dominate charge transport in metal-molecule-metal junctions when they occur close to the contact Fermi energy ( E F). Here, we show that by forming a charge-transfer complex with tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) we can introduce new constructive interference features in the transmission profile of electron-rich, thiophene-based molecular wires that almost coincide with E F. Complexation can result in a large enhancement of junction conductance, with very efficient charge transport even at relatively large molecular lengths. For instance, we report a conductance of 10 -3 G 0 (∼78 nS) for the ∼2 nm long α-quaterthiophene:TCNE complex, almost two orders of magnitude higher than the conductance of the bare molecular wire. As the conductance of the complexes is remarkably independent of features such as the molecular backbone and the nature of the contacts to the electrodes, our results strongly suggest that the interference features are consistently pinned near to the Fermi energy of the metallic leads. Theoretical studies indicate that the semi-occupied nature of the charge-transfer orbital is not only important in giving rise to the latter effect, but also could result in spin-dependent transport for the charge-transfer complexes. These results therefore present a simple yet effective way to increase charge transport efficiency in long and poorly conductive molecular wires, with important repercussions in single-entity thermoelectronics and spintronics.
AB - Interference features in the transmission spectra can dominate charge transport in metal-molecule-metal junctions when they occur close to the contact Fermi energy ( E F). Here, we show that by forming a charge-transfer complex with tetracyanoethylene (TCNE) we can introduce new constructive interference features in the transmission profile of electron-rich, thiophene-based molecular wires that almost coincide with E F. Complexation can result in a large enhancement of junction conductance, with very efficient charge transport even at relatively large molecular lengths. For instance, we report a conductance of 10 -3 G 0 (∼78 nS) for the ∼2 nm long α-quaterthiophene:TCNE complex, almost two orders of magnitude higher than the conductance of the bare molecular wire. As the conductance of the complexes is remarkably independent of features such as the molecular backbone and the nature of the contacts to the electrodes, our results strongly suggest that the interference features are consistently pinned near to the Fermi energy of the metallic leads. Theoretical studies indicate that the semi-occupied nature of the charge-transfer orbital is not only important in giving rise to the latter effect, but also could result in spin-dependent transport for the charge-transfer complexes. These results therefore present a simple yet effective way to increase charge transport efficiency in long and poorly conductive molecular wires, with important repercussions in single-entity thermoelectronics and spintronics.
KW - Carrier transport
KW - Fermi level
KW - Nanowires
KW - Orbital transfer
KW - Wire
KW - Charge transfer complex
KW - Constructive interference
KW - Metal-molecule-metal junctions
KW - Molecular conductance
KW - Spin dependent transport
KW - Transmission profiles
KW - Transmission spectrums
KW - Transport efficiency
KW - Charge transfer
U2 - 10.1039/C8SC04199G
DO - 10.1039/C8SC04199G
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30881668
VL - 10
SP - 2396
EP - 2403
JO - Chemical Science
JF - Chemical Science
SN - 2041-6520
IS - 8
ER -