A Surface-anchored Molecular Four-level Conductance Switch Based on Single Proton Transfer

Overview

Journal Nat Nanotechnol

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2011 Dec 14

PMID 22157727

Citations 34

Authors

Willi Auwarter

Knud Seufert

Felix Bischoff

David Ecija

Saranyan Vijayaraghavan

Sushobhan Joshi

Florian Klappenberger

Niveditha Samudrala

Johannes V Barth

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The development of a variety of nanoscale applications requires the fabrication and control of atomic or molecular switches that can be reversibly operated by light, a short-range force, electric current or other external stimuli. For such molecules to be used as electronic components, they should be directly coupled to a metallic support and the switching unit should be easily connected to other molecular species without suppressing switching performance. Here, we show that a free-base tetraphenyl-porphyrin molecule, which is anchored to a silver surface, can function as a molecular conductance switch. The saddle-shaped molecule has two hydrogen atoms in its inner cavity that can be flipped between two states with different local conductance levels using the electron current through the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope. Moreover, by deliberately removing one of the hydrogens, a four-level conductance switch can be created. The resulting device, which could be controllably integrated into the surrounding nanoscale environment, relies on the transfer of a single proton and therefore contains the smallest possible atomistic switching unit.

Citing Articles

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