SINGLE MOLECULE

ELECTRONICS
What is Molecular electronics ?

Molecular electronics is the use of molecules as the primary building block for
electronic circuitry.
Single Molecular Electronics

Molecular scale electronics, also called single-molecule electronics, is a branch of

nanotechnology that uses single molecules, or nanoscale collections of single molecules, as
electronic components. Because single molecules constitute the smallest stable structures
imaginable, this miniaturization is the ultimate goal for shrinking electrical circuits.
SINGLE-MOLECULE
JUNCTION.
Since it was first suggested that a single molecule might function as an active electronic component, a number of
techniques have been developed to measure the charge transport properties of single molecules. Although scanning
tunnelling microscopy observations under high vacuum conditions can allow stable measurements of electron
transport, most measurements of a single molecule bonded in a metal–molecule–metal junction exhibit relatively
large variations in conductance. As a result, even simple predictions about how molecules behave in such junctions
have still not been rigorously tested. For instance, it is well known13,14 that the tunnelling current passing through a
molecule depends on its conformation; but although some experiments have verified this effect15–18, a
comprehensive mapping of how junction conductance changes with molecular conformations not yet available. In the
simple case of a biphenyl—a molecule with two phenyl rings linked by a single C–C bond—conductance is expected
to change with the relative twist angle between the two rings, with the planar conformation having the highest
conductance. Here we use amine link groups to form single-molecule junctions with more reproducible current–
voltage characteristics19. This allows us to extract average conductance values from thousands of individual
measurements on a series of seven biphenyl molecules with different ring substitutions that alter the twist angle of
the molecules. We find that the conductance for the series decreases with increasing twist angle, consistent with a
cosine-squared relation predicted for transport through p-conjugated biphenyl systems13.
Photochromic Switches
It has also been demonstrated that conductance of a single-molecule junction can be switched by
light control of the reversible photochromic reactions (figure 8(a)) [141]. 1,2-diarylethene is a
photochromic molecule that undergoes reversible ring opening and closing processes upon
irradiating with visible and UV light, respectively [142]. Unlike azobenzene that only changes its
length by trans-cis isomerization, diarylethene molecules can drastically change their electrical
characteristics through transforming from the non-conjugated open form to the conjugated closed
form [143]. This electronic structure difference was theoretically predicted to provide a large
conductance ratio of
10–100 between the open and closed isomers when sandwiched between electrodes [144].
Furthermore, the experimental observations that the phtochromic reaction of diarylethenes
proceeds within picoseconds in a solution suggested thz-level photo-switching speed [145,146].
These unique characteristics of diarylethenes are promising for ultra-fast single-molecule photo-
switch applications.
Wires

The sole purpose of molecular wires is to electrically connect different parts of a molecular
electrical circuit. As the assembly of these and their connection to a macroscopic circuit is still not
mastered, the focus of research in single-molecule electronics is primarily on the functionalized
molecules: molecular wires are characterized by containing no functional groups and are hence
composed of plain repetitions of a conjugated building block. Among these are the carbon
nanotubes that are quite large compared to the other suggestions but have shown very promising
electrical properties. The main problem with the molecular wires is to obtain good electrical
contact with the electrodes so that electrons can move freely in and out of the wire.
single-molecule diode,
A single-molecule diode, a circuit element that directs current flow, was
first proposed more than 40 years ago and consisted of an asymmetric
molecule comprising a donor–bridge–acceptor architecture to mimic a
semiconductor p–n junction.