Mechanically controllable bi-stable states in a highly conductive single pyrazine molecular junction

We report the fabrication of a highly conductive single pyrazine molecular junction with Pt leads. Mechanically controllable break-junction measurements at low temperatures show two distinct high and low conductance states. These conductance values are two orders of magnitude larger than those of a conventional single molecular junction with anchoring groups because of direct binding of the π conjugated molecule to a metal electrode with large density of states at the Fermi energy. Inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy combined with density functional theory calculations highlights the vibration modes of the system for the two regimes. Theory allows us to assign the high and low conductance states of the molecular junction to two configurations in which the pyrazine axis is tilted and parallel with respect to the junction axis, respectively. Finally, we show that the pyrazine junction can be reversibly switched between the two bi-stable conductance states by mechanically stretching and relaxing the junction.