Large area arrays of discrete single-molecule junctions derived from host-guest complexes.

Escorihuela, Enrique; Del Barrio, Jesús; Davidson, Ross J; Beeby, Andrew; Low, Paul J; Prez-Murano, Francesc; Cea, Pilar; Martin, Santiago

Abstract

The desire to continually reduce the lower limits of semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) fabrication methods continues to inspire interest in unimolecular electronics as a platform technology for the realization of future (opto)electronic devices. However, despite successes in developing methods for the construction and measurement of single-molecule and large-area molecular junctions, exercising control over the precise junction geometry remains a significant challenge. Here, host-guest complexes of the wire-like viologen derivative 1,1'-bis(4-(methylthio)-phenyl)-[4,4'-bipyridine]-1,1'-diium chloride ([1][Cl] ) and cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) have been self-assembled in a regular pattern over a gold substrate. Subsequently, ligandless gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) synthesized are deposited over the host-guest array. The agreement between the conductance of individual mono-molecular junctions, appropriately chosen as a function of the AuNP diameter, within this array determined by conductive probe atomic force microscope (c-AFM) and true single-molecule measurements for a closely similar host-guest complex within a scanning tunneling microscope break-junction (STM-BJ) indicates the formation of molecular junctions derived from these host-guest complexes without deleterious intermolecular coupling effects.

Citation

Escorihuela, E., Del Barrio, J., Davidson, R. J., Beeby, A., Low, P. J., Prez-Murano, F., Cea, P., & Martin, S. (2024). Large area arrays of discrete single-molecule junctions derived from host-guest complexes. Nanoscale, 16(3), 1238-1246. https://doi.org/10.1039/d3nr05122f

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 13, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Dec 20, 2023
• Publication Date: Jan 21, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 21, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 21, 2024
• Journal: Nanoscale
• Print ISSN: 2040-3364
• Electronic ISSN: 2040-3372
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 1238-1246
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d3nr05122f
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2085059