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Published on: April 12, 2018
Electrochemical gate-controlled conductance of single oligo(phenylene ethynylene)s
Xiaoyin Xiao1, Larry A Nagahara, Adam M Rawlett
1Department of Electrical Engineering and Center for Solid State Electronics Research, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
Abstract:
We have studied electron transport properties of unsubstituted oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) (1) and nitro-substituted OPE (2) covalently bound to two gold electrodes. The conductance values of single 1 and 2 are approximately 13 and approximately 6 nS, respectively. In addition to a decrease in the conductance, the presence of the nitro moiety leads to asymmetric I-V characteristics and a negative differential resistance-like (NDR-like) behavior. We have altered the nitro-substituted OPE by electrochemically reducing the nitro group and by varying the pH of the electrolyte. The conductance decreases linearly with the electron-withdrawing capability (i.e., Hammett substituent values) of the corresponding reduced species. In contrast, the conductance of 1 is independent of the pH and the electrode potential.
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