Achieving High Performance Molecular Rectification through Fast Screening Alkanethiol Carboxylate-Metal Complexes Electro-Active Unites

28 December 2021, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

Achieving high rectifying performance of molecular scale diode devices through synthetic chemistry and device construction remain a formidable challenge due to the complexity of the charge transport process and the device structure. We demonstrated here high-performance molecular rectification realized in self-assembled monolayer (SAM) based device by low-cost and fast screening the electroactive units. SAMs of commercial available carboxylate terminated alkane thiols on gold substrate, coordinated with a variety of metal ions, structures denoting as Au-S-(CH2)n-1COO-Mm+ (Cn+Mm+), where n=11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18 and Mm+=Ca2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, were prepared and junctions were measured using a eutectic indiumgallium alloy top contact (EGaIn). The C18+Ca2+ and C18+Zn2+ junctions were found to afford a record high rectification ratio (RR) of 756 at ±1.5 V. Theoretical analysis based on single level tunneling model shows that optimized combination of the asymmetry voltage division, energy barrier and the coupling of carboxylate-metal complex with electrode. Our method described here represent a general strategy for fast, cheap and effective exploration of the metal complex chemical space for high-performance molecular diodes devices.

Keywords

Molecular diode
EGaIn
self-assembled monolayer
screening

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
Actions
Title
Achieving High Performance Molecular Rectification through Fast Screening Alkanethiol CarboxylateMetal Complexes Electro-Active Unites
Description
Experimental section; characterization of n-mercaptoalkanoate-Mm+ SAMs; coordination structure of carboxylic acid metal complex; and single level tunneling model
Actions

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.