Single-Molecule Solvation-Shell Sensing

Leary, E. and Hobenreich, H. and Higgins, S. J. and van Zalinge, H. and Haiss, W. and Nichols, R. J. and Finch, C. M. and Grace, I. and Lambert, Colin and McGrath, R. and Smerdon, J. (2009) Single-Molecule Solvation-Shell Sensing. Physical review letters, 102 (8). -. ISSN 0031-9007

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Abstract

We present a new route to single-molecule sensing via solvation shells surrounding a current-carrying backbone molecule. As an example, we show that the presence of a water solvation shell "gates" the conductance of a family of oligothiophene-containing molecular wires, and that the longer the oligothiophene, the larger is the effect. For the longest example studied, the molecular conductance is over 2 orders of magnitude larger in the presence of a shell comprising just 10 water molecules. A first principles theoretical investigation of electron transport through the molecules, using the nonequilibrium Green's function method, shows that water molecules interact directly with the thiophene rings, significantly shifting transport resonances and greatly increasing the conductance. This reversible effect is confirmed experimentally through conductance measurements performed in the presence of moist air and dry argon.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Physical review letters
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/libraryofcongress/qc
Subjects:
?? PHYSICSPHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY(ALL)QC PHYSICS ??
ID Code:
57883
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
28 Aug 2012 14:57
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
20 Sep 2023 00:24