Triazatriangulene as Binding Group for Molecular Electronics
Author(s):
Zhongming Wei, Xintai Wang, Anders Borges, Marco Santella, Tao Li, Jakob Kryger Sørensen, Marco Vanin, Wenping Hu, Yunqi Liu, Jens Ulstrup, Gemma C. Solomon, Qijin Chi, Thomas Bjørnholm, Kasper Nørgaard, Bo W. Laursen
Journal:
Langmuir
Year:
2014
Volume:
30
Pages
14868-14876
DOI:
10.1021/la504056v
Abstract:
The triazatriangulene (TATA) ring system was investigated as a binding group for tunnel junctions of molecular wires on gold surfaces. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of TATA platforms with three different lengths of phenylene wires were fabricated, and their electrical conductance was recorded by both conducting probe-atomic force microscopy (CP-AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Similar measurements were performed for phenylene SAMs with thiol anchoring groups as references. It was found that, despite the presence of a sp3 hybridized carbon atom in the conduction path, the TATA platform displays a contact resistance only slightly larger than the thiols. This surprising finding has not been reported before and was analyzed by theoretical computations of the transmission functions of the TATA anchored molecular wires. The relatively low contact resistance of the TATA platform along with its high stability and directionality make this binding group very attractive for molecular electronic measurements and devices.