Abstract
Theory and experiment examining electron transfer through molecules bound to electrodes are increasingly focused on quantities that are conceptually far removed from current chemical understanding. This presents challenges both for the design of interesting molecules for these devices and for the interpretation of experimental data by traditional chemical mechanisms. Here, the concept of electronic coupling from theories of intramolecular electron transfer is extended and applied in the scattering theory (Landauer) formalism. This yields a simple sum over independent channels, that is then used to interpret and explain the unusual features of junction transport through cross-conjugated molecules and the differences among benzene rings substituted at the ortho, meta, or para positions.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 054701 |
Journal | Journal of Chemical Physics |
Volume | 129 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2008 |
Funding
This work was funded by the NSF-Chemistry (Nos. CHE-0719420, CHE-0414554, and CHE-0718928), the NSF-MRSEC (No. DMR-0520513), the ONR-Chemistry, and the American Australian Foundation. We thank Michael Galperin and Abraham Nitzan for helpful discussions and the referee of this paper for helpful remarks.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry