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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Single-Molecule Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Methods for Real-Time Investigation of the Holliday Junction Resolution by GEN1
Published on: September 18, 2019
Large Spatially Resolved Rectification in a Donor-Acceptor Molecular Heterojunction
Joseph A Smerdon1, Noel C Giebink2, Nathan P Guisinger3
1Jeremiah Horrocks Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, University of Central Lancashire , Preston, PR1 2HE, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We demonstrate that rectification ratios (RR) of ≳250 (≳1000) at biases of 0.5 V (1.2 V) are achievable at the two-molecule limit for donor-acceptor bilayers of pentacene on C60 on Cu using scanning tunneling spectroscopy and microscopy. Using first-principles calculations, we show that the system behaves as a molecular Schottky diode with a tunneling transport mechanism from semiconducting pentacene to Cu-hybridized metallic C60. Low-bias RRs vary by two orders-of-magnitude at the edge of these molecular heterojunctions due to increased Stark shifts and confinement effects.
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