Molecular machines and devices
The suggestion to start this Thematic Series was first made at the Beilstein Nanotechnology Symposium 2014 under the same title. The three main topics in this symposium were: molecular electronics, one-dimensional conductors, and synthetic molecular machines. Molecular electronics is currently being developed mostly at the interface between organic chemistry and nanophysics, leaning strongly towards the fundamental understanding of electron transport at the smallest scale and applications in nanoelectronics. The second topic, one-dimensional conductors, has been studied both theoretically and experimentally in the field of mesoscopic physics. More recently, truly one-dimensional wires, which are assembled from molecular building blocks into conductive oligomeric chains, have started to be investigated. The third topic, synthetic molecular motors, has seen spectacular development in recent years, mostly in the research field of organic chemistry.
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- Published 05 May 2015
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Figure 1: Tris(1-oxo-1H-phenalen-9-olate)aluminum(III) (Al(Op)3) structure. H atoms are omitted for clarity.
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Figure 2: Cyclic voltammogram for Al(Op)3 recorded at room temperature in CH2Cl2 solution using TBAPF6 as the...
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Figure 3: Absorption (dotted line) and emission spectra (solid line) of Al(Op)3 in CH2Cl2 solution (black) an...
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Figure 4: Luminescence decay in CH2Cl2 solution (black) and as a thin film on quartz (red). In solution, a mo...
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Figure 5: Transfer curve of the Al(Op)3-based TFT with a channel length of 100 μm. In this figure, IDS and VDS...
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Figure 6: Comparison of the source–drain current (IDS) and the leakage gate current (IG) from the transfer ch...
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Figure 7: a) HOMO (left) and LUMO (right) orbitals of Al(Op)3 calculated with TURBOMOLE [36] on a B3-LYP [37]/SV(P) [38] ...
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Figure 8: Energy levels of Al(Op)3 calculated with different conditions, namely, HOMO and LUMO in vacuum (vac...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 06 May 2015
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Figure 1: Measured and reconstructed dI/dz data obtained from I(z) measurements using three sets of fit param...
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Figure 2: Measured and reconstructed I(z) data. The reconstructed traces were based on the fit parameters fro...
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Figure 3: Logarithmic conductance versus tip-sample distance for measured and reconstructed I(z) data. The re...
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Figure 4: Measured and reconstructed dz/dV traces obtained from z(V) measurements by using three sets of fit ...
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Figure 5: Logarithmic conductance versus tip-sample distance for measured and reconstructed z(V) data. The re...
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Figure 6: Combined logarithmic conductance versus tip–sample distance for z(V) and I(z) measurements. Logarit...
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Figure 7: Measured and reconstructed dI/dz data obtained from I(z) measurements for γ = 0.5. The masking effe...
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Figure 8: Measured and reconstructed dz/dV traces obtained from z(V) measurements for γ=0.5. The masking effe...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 30 Oct 2015
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Figure 1: (a) An STM image of PhO molecules on Cu(110) with a schematic illustration superimposed. A protrusi...
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Figure 2: (a) The control of the switch by application of a bias voltage for PhO. The sample voltage VS was r...
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Figure 3: (a) STM image of coadsorbed PhO (left) and PhS (right) obtained at VS = 50 mV and I = 1 nA (52 × 52...
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Figure 4: The dependence of the tip–molecule contact on the conductance. For a given tip apex, the conductanc...
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Figure 5: Stability diagram and structure for PhO and PhS switching. (a) Total energy difference and (b) mole...
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Figure 6: (a) Transmission and (b) projected density of states (PDOS) onto the Cu apex atom as well as onto t...
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Figure 7: Comparison between STM images of (a) PhO, (b) m-cresoxy, and (c) 3,5-xylenoxy molecules on Cu(110)....
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- Review
- Published 02 Nov 2015
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Figure 1: Schematic representation of the threading/dethreading of a pseudorotaxane (a) and of the relative u...
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Figure 2: In a switch (a) the interconversion between states 1 and 2 takes place through the same transformat...
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Figure 3: A minimalistic strategy for the photoinduced transit of a macrocycle along a nonsymmetric molecular...
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Figure 4: Structure formula and schematic representation of the examined molecular components.
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Figure 5: Self-assembly chemical reactions (horizontal processes) and photochemical isomerization reactions (...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 11 Nov 2015
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Figure 1: Scheme of the D–A model considered in this work. A two-site (D, A) electronic junction is coupled t...
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Figure 2: Linear response behavior of the donor–acceptor junction as a function of molecule–metal hybridizati...
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Figure 3: Linear response behavior of the donor–acceptor junction as a function of gate voltage. (a) Electric...
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Figure 4: Linear response behavior of the donor–acceptor junction as a function of vibrational frequency ω0 f...
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Figure 5: Contour plot of linear response efficiencies as a function of hybridization Γ and electronic energi...
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Figure 6: Transport beyond linear response. (a) current voltage characteristics for the harmonic (full) and a...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 13 Nov 2015
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Figure 1: Long one-dimensional (1D) atomic chain. Region C (red) is composed of 200 mobile atoms sandwiched b...
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Figure 2: The equilibrium frequencies of each vibrational mode (vertical axis). For each eigenfrequency, the ...
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Figure 3: Upper panel: for each bias (vertical axis) the elements of the antisymmetric part of the dynamical ...
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Figure 4: Main panel: Fourier components (moduli) of the eigenmode with the largest (negative) imaginary part...
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Figure 5: Longitudinal atomic displacements in a wire with 200 dynamical atoms as a function of position (hor...
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Figure 6: Fourier-decomposed total ionic kinetic energy (colour) across the phonon band, determined using Equation 10, d...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 16 Nov 2015
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Figure 1: Structural model of a fragment of the commensurate PTCDA monolayer grown on an Ag(111). Blue lines ...
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Figure 2: Scheme of the set-up used for HCM with a visual feedback using Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles ...
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Figure 3: Precision of an arbitrary trajectory tracking in HCM with the visual feedback. The operator followe...
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Figure 4: Manipulation trajectories recorded using HCM with the visual feedback. The inset in (a) shows three...
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- Published 08 Dec 2015
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Figure 1: Schematic of the proposed molecular switch, where the asymmetric rotor blade is terminated at one e...
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Figure 2: The potential energy profile, UBSC (eV), calculated from the changes in the total energy of the sys...
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Figure 3: (a) The molecular structure within the junction. (b) A contour plot of the local density of states ...
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Figure 4: The weighted current (blue curve) from Equation 5 and the NDR (green curve, dI/dV) for applied bias between 0...
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- Published 09 Dec 2015
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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the MCBJ technique and the method of current-induced breaking. The top pa...
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Figure 2: Histograms of conductance values for Au and Pt collected from 20000 individual breaking traces.
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Figure 3: Example of a conductance breaking trace for Au. As soon as the conductance drops to the conductance...
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Figure 4: (a) Histogram of break voltage, Vb, for Au atomic chains of lengths between 0.38 and 0.97 nm, as in...
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Figure 5: (a) Density plot (top panel) and histogram (lower panel) collecting all breaking voltages for all c...
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Figure 6: Density plot (top panel) and histogram (lower panel) collecting all breaking voltages for all chain...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 18 Dec 2015
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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the experimental setup. The inset represents structural formula of mesity...
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Figure 2: Conductance traces (a–c) and semi-logarithmic conductance histograms (d,e) during STM-BJ rupture pr...
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Figure 3: Stretch length histograms on a semi-log scale constructed from 2000 of all conductance traces taken...
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Figure 4: (a) 2D histogram of I–V curves of the mesitylene molecular junctions. The histogram is built from 1...
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Figure 5: Proposed structural models of the mesitylene molecular junctions for (a) high-conductance and (b) l...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 22 Dec 2015
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Figure 1: (a) Geometry and atomic composition of CuPc. (b) Single particle energies of relevant molecular orb...
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Figure 2: Lowest lying anionic states of CuPc, together with their grade of degeneracy d. Without exchange an...
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Figure 3: (a) Dependence of the single particle orbital energies on the magnetic field strength. From this, t...
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Figure 4: Current and differential conductance curves exhibiting the anionic (cationic) resonance at positive...
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Figure 5: Differential conductance maps as a function of the strength Bz of the magnetic field in z-direction...
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Figure 6: Differential conductance maps vs the angle θ, formed by the applied magnetic field with the z-axis....
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- Published 24 Dec 2015
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Figure 1: (a) Schematic of the inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) in a single-molecule junction...
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Figure 2: (a) Typical breaking traces recorded on a junction without molecule (left) and with OPE3 (right). (...
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Figure 3: (a) Two-dimensional histograms of two configurations built from the individual spectra measured on ...
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Figure 4: (a) Low-bias conductance trace recorded during the stretching of an OPE3 single-molecule junction (...
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Figure 5: (a) Three selected geometries along the stretching of the junction. (b) Calculated vibrational spec...
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Figure 6: Current versus time traces acquired at bias voltages varying between 0.14 and 0.24 V. The traces ha...
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- Published 11 Jan 2016
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Figure 1: Structures of azobenzene (AB), 9-ring graphene fragment (G9), AB bonded to a G9 “corner” site (G9–A...
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Figure 2: Energy level diagram comparing orbital energies for isolated AB and G9, compared to the G9–AB clust...
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Figure 3: HOMO and H−1 orbitals for G9–AB for a range of dihedral angles between the G9 plane and AB aromatic...
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Figure 4: Orbitals for G9–AB–G9 added to the orbital energy diagram of Figure 2. All structures are presented in thei...
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Figure 5: Effect of dihedral angle on orbital electron distributions in G9–AB–G9. In the 0° case, the G9s and...
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Figure 6: Comparisons of calculated electronic coupling t values in meV for G9–(AB)n–G9 and edge-oriented G9–...
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Figure 7: A) tH−2/H−3 calculated for the planar geometries of the indicated G9–molecule–G9 clusters with vari...
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Figure 8: A) Isolated AB and G9 molecules showing the calculated HOMO and LUMO energies relative to the exper...
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- Published 29 Jan 2016
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Figure 1: Bead arrangements in different optical force measurements. a) PDHs tethered to an anti-DIG bead (2....
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Figure 2: Quantitative analysis of labelled and unlabelled DNA. Gel electrophoresis [(1.8% a) (lane 1, 2 and ...
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Figure 3: Characteristic force–extension curve. The biotin bead interacting with the protein moiety by molecu...
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Figure 4: Selected force distributions for protein–DNA coupled to anti-DIG beads with the ratio 40:1. a) Comb...
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Figure 5: Optical force measurements of DIG-DNA-Thiol. Distribution of rupture forces for DIG-DNA-Thiol pulle...
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Figure 6: Studying the stability and force-induced disruption of streptavidin-labelled DNA handles in TICO bu...
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Figure 7: Characteristic force–extension curves of double-handle experiments. a) DIG-DNA-Bio and streptavidin...
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Figure 8: Fluorescence measurements of Qdot–streptavidin conjugates that were attached to freely accessible D...
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- Review
- Published 03 Mar 2016
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Figure 1: (a) Simplest model for a periodic ratchet potential
![[Graphic 40]](/bjnano/content/inline/2190-4286-7-31-i86.png?max-width=637&scale=1.18182)
with depth ε. Bias Δμ < 0 per one rotation tur...
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Figure 2: (a) Dependence of the net rotation rate, ω, on the net bias,
![[Graphic 48]](/bjnano/content/inline/2190-4286-7-31-i94.png?max-width=637&scale=1.18182)
, for the most asymmetric sawtooth mod...
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Figure 3: (a) Dependence of Rmax on the absolute value of driving energy Δμ in units of kBT for two values of...
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Figure 4: (a) Directed transport in standard cosine potential, V1 = 1, V2 = 0, and in a ratchet potential, V1...
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Figure 5: (a) Minimalist model of a pump with one time dependent energy level, E(t), which can be used to pum...
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Figure 6: Motor pulling cargo on an elastic linker. The motor can be trapped in a flashing periodic potential...
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- Full Research Paper
- Published 11 Mar 2016
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Figure 1: Schematic representation of molecular transport in a two-terminal setup consisting of a molecule (M...
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Figure 2: Dimensionless I–V curves computed for a small molecule consisting of a single site/level (N = 1) of...
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Figure 3: Schematic representation of the energy window available for elastic electron transitions at zero te...
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Figure 4: Schematic representation of the exact and approximate quantities entering the expression for the cu...
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Figure 5: (a) Same as Figure 2b and (b) same as Figure 2c, but using extended molecule sizes up to Next = 51, that is, includin...
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Figure 6: Even when increasing the size, Next, of the extended molecule well beyond that which current comput...
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