Abstract
We investigated the substituent effect on the conductance of the molecular junctions formed with Ag electrodes by using a scanning tunneling microscope break-junction (STM-BJ) technique. For 1,4-diaminobenzene (BDA) molecules, we measured an increased conductance with a methyl group as an electron-donating substituent and a decreased conductance with a chlorine group as an electron-withdrawing substituent. These results can be explained by using the gap between the Ag Fermi level and the molecule occupied state which varies with the substituents. Furthermore, we found that the molecular elongation lengths were ~0.3 nm for all BDA derivatives with the different substituents in the Ag electrodes, proving the same length of these molecules. Our works provide a significance of the chemical substituents on electron transport in Ag electrodes for single molecule devices in the future.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. S. Meisner, S. Ahn, S. V. Aradhya, M. Krikorian, R. Parameswaran, M. Steigerwald, L. Venkataraman and C. Nuckolls, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 20440 (2012).
T. Kim, J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 12703 (2015).
Y. S. Park, J. R. Widawsky, M. Kamenetska, M. L. Steigerwald, M. S. Hybertsen, C. Nuckolls and L. Venkataraman, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 10820 (2009).
M. L. Perrin et al., Nat Nano 8, 282 (2013).
B. Xu and N. J. Tao, Science 301, 1221 (2003).
L. Venkataraman, Y. S. Park, A. C. Whalley, C. Nuckolls, M. S. Hybertsen and M. L. Steigerwald, Nano Lett. 7, 502 (2007).
M. Dell’Angela et al., Nano Lett. 10, 2470 (2010).
J. A. Malen, P. Doak, K. Baheti, T. D. Tilley, R. A. Segalman and A. Majumdar, Nano Lett. 9, 1164 (2009).
P. S. Yoo, H. Y. Jo and T. Kim, J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 29962 (2014).
N. Jiang et al., Nano Lett. 12, 5061 (2012).
S. J. Lee, J. M. Baik and M. Moskovits, Nano Lett. 8, 3244 (2008).
E. M. van Schrojenstein Lantman, T. Deckert-Gaudig, A. J. G. Mank, V. Deckert and B. M. Weckhuysen, Nat Nano 7, 583 (2012).
Y. S. Park, A. C. Whalley, M. Kamenetska, M. L. Steigerwald, M. S. Hybertsen, C. Nuckolls and L. Venkataraman, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 129, 15768 (2007).
L. Venkataraman, J. E. Klare, I. W. Tam, C. Nuckolls, M. S. Hybertsen and M. L. Steigerwald, Nano Lett. 6, 458 (2006).
L. Venkataraman, J. E. Klare, C. Nuckolls, M. S. Hybertsen and M. L. Steigerwald, Nature 442, 904 (2006).
R. Huber et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 1080 (2008).
T. Kim, H. Vázquez, M. S. Hybertsen and L. Venkataraman, Nano Lett. 13, 3358 (2013).
V. B. Engelkes, J. M. Beebe and C. D. Frisbie, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 14287 (2004).
B. Kim, J. M. Beebe, Y. Jun, X. Y. Zhu and C. D. Frisbie, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128, 4970 (2006).
J. G. Simmons, J. Appl. Phys. 34, 1793 (1963).
W. Wang, T. Lee and M. A. Reed, Physical Review B 68, 035416 (2003).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, T. Substituent effect on the conductance of single-molecule junctions formed with silver electrodes. Journal of the Korean Physical Society 67, 2077–2080 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3938/jkps.67.2077
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3938/jkps.67.2077