Abstract
The creation of molecular electronic switches by using smart molecules is of great importance to the field of molecular electronics. This requires a fundamental understanding of the intrinsic electron transport mechanisms, which depend on several factors including the charge transport pathway, the molecule–electrode coupling strength, the energy of the molecular frontier orbitals, and the electron spin state. On the basis of significant progresses achieved in both experiments and theory over the past decade, in this review article we focus on new insights into the design and fabrication of different molecular switches and the corresponding switching effects, which is crucial to the development of molecular electronics. We summarize the strategies developed for single-molecule device fabrication and the mechanism of these switching effects. These analyses should be valuable for deeply understanding the switching effects in molecular electronic devices.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Funds of China (21225311, 91333102, and 21373014) and the 973 Project (2012CB921404 and 2012CB921403).
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This article is part of the Topical Collection “Molecular-Scale Electronics: Current Status and Perspective”; edited by Xuefeng Guo.
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Liu, Z., Ren, S. & Guo, X. Switching Effects in Molecular Electronic Devices. Top Curr Chem (Z) 375, 56 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41061-017-0144-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41061-017-0144-5