What is it about?
We investigate, by means of ab initio calculations, electronic transport in molecular junctions composed of a biphenyl molecule attached to metallic carbon nanotubes. We find that the conductance is proportional to cos2θ, with θ the angle between phenyl rings, when the Fermi level of the contacts lies within the frontier molecular orbitals energy gap.
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Why is it important?
This result, which agrees with experiments in biphenyl junctions with nonorganic contacts, suggests that the cos2θ law has a more general applicability, irrespective of the nature of the electrodes. We calculate the geometrical degree of chirality of the junction, which only depends on the atomic positions, and demonstrate that it is not only proportional to cos2θ but also is strongly correlated with the current through the system.
Perspectives
These results indicate that molecular conformation plays the preponderant role in determining transport properties of biphenyl-carbon nanotubes molecular junctions.
Prof. Dr. Carlos Alberto Brito da Silva Jr.
Universidade Federal do Para
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Electronic transport in biphenyl single-molecule junctions with carbon nanotubes electrodes: The role of molecular conformation and chirality, Physical Review B, August 2010, American Physical Society (APS),
DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.82.085402.
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