Introducing molecular electronics

The mechanisms of charge injection and transport, and their manifestations in the physical properties of molecular electronic junctions, are discussed. Molecular electronics (ME) is the set of electronic behaviours in molecule-containing structures that are dependent upon the characteristic molecular organization of space. Both molecular charge transport and molecular optoelectronics depend on critical processes, such as charge injection through a molecular structure, geometric modifications of molecules in strong static fields, and molecular optical processes. The issues involving the fundamentals of charge transport remain unclear, which must be clarified if ME is to proceed as an intellectual discipline and enabling technology are also discussed.