Optical probes of molecules as nano-mechanical switches.
Authors
Boehmke, Alexandra
Földes, Tamás
Sangtarash, Sara
Publication Date
2020-11-20Journal Title
Nature communications
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Springer Nature
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
5905
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Physical Medium
Electronic
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Kos, D., Di Martino, G., Boehmke, A., de Nijs, B., Berta, D., Földes, T., Sangtarash, S., et al. (2020). Optical probes of molecules as nano-mechanical switches.. Nature communications, 11 (1), 5905. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19703-y
Abstract
Molecular electronics promises a new generation of ultralow-energy information technologies, based around functional molecular junctions. Here we report optical probing that exploits a gold nanoparticle in a plasmonic nanocavity geometry used as one terminal of a well-defined molecular junction, deposited as a self-assembled molecular monolayer on flat gold. A conductive transparent cantilever electrically contacts individual nanoparticles while maintaining optical access to the molecular junction. Optical readout of molecular structure in the junction reveals ultralow-energy switching of ~50 zJ, from a nano-electromechanical torsion spring at the single molecule level. Real-time Raman measurements show these electronic device characteristics are directly affected by this molecular torsion, which can be explained using a simple circuit model based on junction capacitances, confirmed by density functional theory calculations. This nanomechanical degree of freedom is normally invisible and ignored in electrical transport measurements but is vital to the design and exploitation of molecules as quantum-coherent electronic nanodevices.
Relationships
Is supplemented by: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.59585
Sponsorship
EPSRC (1648373)
EPSRC (1648373)
EPSRC (EP/G060649/1)
EPSRC (EP/L027151/1)
EPSRC (EP/G037221/1)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) (829067)
EPSRC (EP/L015978/1)
EPSRC (EP/P029426/1)
Embargo Lift Date
2023-10-27
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19703-y
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/312078
Rights
All rights reserved