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Orientational control of molecular scale thermoelectricity

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>25/10/2022
<mark>Journal</mark>Nanoscale Advances
Issue number21
Volume4
Number of pages4
Pages (from-to)4635-4638
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date7/10/22
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Through a comprehensive theoretical study, we demonstrate that single-molecule junctions formed from asymmetric molecules with different terminal groups can exhibit Seebeck coefficients, whose sign depends on the orientation of the molecule within the junction. Three anthracene-based molecules are studied, one of which exhibits this bi-thermoelectric behaviour, due to the presence of a thioacetate terminal group at one end and a pyridyl terminal group at the other. A pre-requisite for obtaining this behaviour is the use of junction electrodes formed from different materials. In our case, we use gold as the bottom electrode and graphene-coated gold as the top electrode. This demonstration of bi-thermoelecricity means that if molecules with alternating orientations can be deposited on a substrate, then they form a basis for boosting the thermovoltage in molecular-scale thermoelectric energy generators (TEGs).