Towards graphyne molecular electronics

Zhihai Li; Manuel Smeu; Arnaud Rives; Valérie Maraval; Remi Chauvin; Mark A. Ratner; Eric Borguet

doi:10.1038/ncomms7321

Towards graphyne molecular electronics

Zhihai Li, Manuel Smeu, Arnaud Rives, Valérie Maraval, Remi Chauvin^*, Mark A. Ratner, Eric Borguet

^*Corresponding author for this work

Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

134 Scopus citations

Abstract

α-Graphyne, a carbon-expanded version of graphene ('carbo-graphene') that was recently evidenced as an alternative zero-gap semiconductor, remains a theoretical material. Nevertheless, using specific synthesis methods, molecular units of α-graphyne ('carbo-benzene' macrocycles) can be inserted between two anilinyl (4-NH₂-C₆H₄)-anchoring groups that allow these fragments to form molecular junctions between gold electrodes. Here, electrical measurements by the scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) break junction technique and electron transport calculations are carried out on such a carbo-benzene, providing unprecedented single molecule conductance values: 106 nS through a 1.94-nm N-N distance, essentially 10 times the conductance of a shorter nanographenic hexabenzocoronene analogue. Deleting a C₄ edge of the rigid C₁₈ carbo-benzene circuit results in a flexible 'carbo-butadiene' molecule that has a conductance 40 times lower. Furthermore, carbo-benzene junctions exhibit field-effect transistor behaviour when an electrochemical gate potential is applied, opening the way for device applications. All the results are interpreted on the basis of theoretical calculations.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	6321
Pages (from-to)	6321
Number of pages	1
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7321
State	Published - Feb 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physics and Astronomy(all)
Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)

Access to Document

10.1038/ncomms7321

Cite this

@article{911be5978de74ca49b4eea7e3b258a0a,

title = "Towards graphyne molecular electronics",

abstract = "α-Graphyne, a carbon-expanded version of graphene ('carbo-graphene') that was recently evidenced as an alternative zero-gap semiconductor, remains a theoretical material. Nevertheless, using specific synthesis methods, molecular units of α-graphyne ('carbo-benzene' macrocycles) can be inserted between two anilinyl (4-NH2-C6H4)-anchoring groups that allow these fragments to form molecular junctions between gold electrodes. Here, electrical measurements by the scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) break junction technique and electron transport calculations are carried out on such a carbo-benzene, providing unprecedented single molecule conductance values: 106 nS through a 1.94-nm N-N distance, essentially 10 times the conductance of a shorter nanographenic hexabenzocoronene analogue. Deleting a C4 edge of the rigid C18 carbo-benzene circuit results in a flexible 'carbo-butadiene' molecule that has a conductance 40 times lower. Furthermore, carbo-benzene junctions exhibit field-effect transistor behaviour when an electrochemical gate potential is applied, opening the way for device applications. All the results are interpreted on the basis of theoretical calculations.",

author = "Zhihai Li and Manuel Smeu and Arnaud Rives and Val{\'e}rie Maraval and Remi Chauvin and Ratner, {Mark A.} and Eric Borguet",

note = "Funding Information: E.B. thanks the National Science Foundation (CHE 0809838) for financial support. E.B. acknowledges support as part of the Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award #DE-SC0012575. M.S. thanks the FRQNT and the NSF (CHE-1058896) for financial support. M.A.R. thanks the Chemistry Division of the NSF (CHE-1058896) for support. V.M. and R.C. thank the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Minist{\`e}re de l{\textquoteright}Enseignement Sup{\'e}rieur, de la Recherche et de la Technologie, the Universit{\'e} Paul Sabatier and the ANR programme (11-BS07-016-01) for financial support. V.M. and R.C. also gratefully acknowledge Dr Oleg Lozynskyi for his participation in this work.",

year = "2015",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1038/ncomms7321",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "6",

pages = "6321",

journal = "Nature communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Towards graphyne molecular electronics

AU - Li, Zhihai

AU - Smeu, Manuel

AU - Rives, Arnaud

AU - Maraval, Valérie

AU - Chauvin, Remi

AU - Ratner, Mark A.

AU - Borguet, Eric

N1 - Funding Information: E.B. thanks the National Science Foundation (CHE 0809838) for financial support. E.B. acknowledges support as part of the Center for the Computational Design of Functional Layered Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award #DE-SC0012575. M.S. thanks the FRQNT and the NSF (CHE-1058896) for financial support. M.A.R. thanks the Chemistry Division of the NSF (CHE-1058896) for support. V.M. and R.C. thank the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de la Technologie, the Université Paul Sabatier and the ANR programme (11-BS07-016-01) for financial support. V.M. and R.C. also gratefully acknowledge Dr Oleg Lozynskyi for his participation in this work.

PY - 2015/2

Y1 - 2015/2

N2 - α-Graphyne, a carbon-expanded version of graphene ('carbo-graphene') that was recently evidenced as an alternative zero-gap semiconductor, remains a theoretical material. Nevertheless, using specific synthesis methods, molecular units of α-graphyne ('carbo-benzene' macrocycles) can be inserted between two anilinyl (4-NH2-C6H4)-anchoring groups that allow these fragments to form molecular junctions between gold electrodes. Here, electrical measurements by the scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) break junction technique and electron transport calculations are carried out on such a carbo-benzene, providing unprecedented single molecule conductance values: 106 nS through a 1.94-nm N-N distance, essentially 10 times the conductance of a shorter nanographenic hexabenzocoronene analogue. Deleting a C4 edge of the rigid C18 carbo-benzene circuit results in a flexible 'carbo-butadiene' molecule that has a conductance 40 times lower. Furthermore, carbo-benzene junctions exhibit field-effect transistor behaviour when an electrochemical gate potential is applied, opening the way for device applications. All the results are interpreted on the basis of theoretical calculations.

AB - α-Graphyne, a carbon-expanded version of graphene ('carbo-graphene') that was recently evidenced as an alternative zero-gap semiconductor, remains a theoretical material. Nevertheless, using specific synthesis methods, molecular units of α-graphyne ('carbo-benzene' macrocycles) can be inserted between two anilinyl (4-NH2-C6H4)-anchoring groups that allow these fragments to form molecular junctions between gold electrodes. Here, electrical measurements by the scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) break junction technique and electron transport calculations are carried out on such a carbo-benzene, providing unprecedented single molecule conductance values: 106 nS through a 1.94-nm N-N distance, essentially 10 times the conductance of a shorter nanographenic hexabenzocoronene analogue. Deleting a C4 edge of the rigid C18 carbo-benzene circuit results in a flexible 'carbo-butadiene' molecule that has a conductance 40 times lower. Furthermore, carbo-benzene junctions exhibit field-effect transistor behaviour when an electrochemical gate potential is applied, opening the way for device applications. All the results are interpreted on the basis of theoretical calculations.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923233555&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84923233555&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms7321

DO - 10.1038/ncomms7321

M3 - Article

C2 - 25699991

AN - SCOPUS:84923233555

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 6

SP - 6321

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

M1 - 6321

ER -

Towards graphyne molecular electronics

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this