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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Single-Molecule Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Methods for Real-Time Investigation of the Holliday Junction Resolution by GEN1
Published on: September 18, 2019
Electrical and SERS detection of disulfide-mediated dimerization in single-molecule benzene-1,4-dithiol junctions
Jueting Zheng1, Junyang Liu1, Yijing Zhuo1
1State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces , College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Pen-Tung Sah Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology , Graphene Industry and Engineering Research Institute , iChEM , Xiamen University , Xiamen 361005 , China . Email: whong@xmu.edu.cn ;
Abstract:
We applied a combination of mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ) and in situ surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) methods to investigate the long-standing single-molecule conductance discrepancy of prototypical benzene-1,4-dithiol (BDT) junctions. Single-molecule conductance characterization, together with configuration analysis of the molecular junction, suggested that disulfide-mediated dimerization of BDT contributed to the low conductance feature, which was further verified by the detection of S-S bond formation through in situ SERS characterization. Control experiments demonstrated that the disulfide-mediated dimerization could be tuned via the chemical inhibitor. Our findings suggest that a combined electrical and SERS method is capable of probing chemical reactions at the single-molecule level.
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