Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Switching of a photochromic molecule on gold electrodes: single-molecule measurements

Jin He1, Fan Chen1, Paul A Liddell2, Joakim Andréasson2, Stephen D Straight2, Devens Gust2, Thomas A Moore2, Ana L Moore2, Jun Li1, Otto F Sankey1 and Stuart M Lindsay1,2,3

Show affiliations


We have studied the electronic changes caused by light-induced isomerization of a photochromic molecule between an open state (that absorbs in the UV to become closed) and a closed state (that absorbs in the visible to become open). Data obtained using a newly developed repetitive break junction method are interpreted in terms of single-molecule resistances of 526 ± 90 MΩ in the open form and 4 ± 1 MΩ in the closed form when the molecule is bound between two gold contacts via dithiol linkages. The corresponding ratio of open to closed resistance is in close agreement with the results of ab initio calculations, though the measured resistances are about half of the calculated values. Optical spectroscopy indicates that the photoisomerization occurs in both directions on small gold particles, evaporated thin gold films, and in the break junction experiments. http://stacks.iop.org/0957-4484/16/695


PACS

78.20.-e Optical properties of bulk materials and thin films

73.63.Bd Nanocrystalline materials

71.15.-m Methods of electronic structure calculations

Subjects

Condensed matter: electrical, magnetic and optical

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Dates

Issue 6 (June 2005)

Received 10 November 2004, in final form 23 February 2005

Published 5 April 2005



Users also read

What's this?
This innovative new feature generates a list of articles 'also read' by other users based on them reading the original article. Article abstracts citations and references are all considered and weighted accordingly. We hope that this will help you find relevant papers for your research.

  1. Electronic and optical properties of electromigrated molecular junctions
  2. Stochastic and photochromic switching of diarylethenes studied by scanning tunnelling microscopy

Related review articles

What's this?
View review articles related to this research to gain an insight into the key trends in this subject area. Related review articles are selected based on PACS/MSC codes, and are no more than three years old.

  1. Photoacoustic spectroscopy for analytical measurements
  2. Applications of two-photon processes in semiconductor photonic devices: invited review
  3. Generalized Kramers–Kronig relations in nonlinear optical- and THz-spectroscopy

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.