Light and redox switchable molecular components for molecular electronics

The field of molecular and organic electronics has seen rapid progress in recent years, developing from concept and design to actual demonstration devices in which both single molecules and self-assembled monolayers are employed as light-responsive components. Research in this field has seen numerous unexpected challenges that have slowed progress and the initial promise of complex molecular-based computers has not yet been realised. Primarily this has been due to the realisation at an early stage that molecular-based nano-electronics brings with it the interface between the hard (semiconductor) and soft (molecular) worlds and the challenges which accompany working in such an environment. Issues such as addressability, cross-talk, molecular stability and perturbation of molecular properties (e.g., inhibition of photochemistry) have nevertheless driven development in molecular design and synthesis as well as our ability to interface molecular components with bulk metal contacts to a very high level of sophistication. Numerous groups have played key roles in progressing this field not least teams such as those led by Whitesides, Aviram, Ratner, Stoddart and Heath. In this short review we will however focus on the contributions from our own group and those of our collaborators, in employing diarylethene based molecular components.