Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 11, Issue 40, Pages 36886-36894Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b11044
Keywords
single-molecule switches; mechano-electronic switches; chemo-electronic switches; single-molecule electronics; molecular electronics
Funding
- Australian Research Council [DE160101101, DE160100732, DP190100735]
- Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding scheme [DP150104117]
- Australian Research Council [DE160101101] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
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Developing molecular circuits that can function as the active components in electrical devices is an ongoing challenge in molecular electronics. It demands mechanical stability of the single-molecule circuit while simultaneously being responsive to external stimuli mimicking the operation of conventional electronic components. Here, we report single-molecule circuits based on spiropyran derivatives that respond electrically to chemical and mechanical stimuli. The merocyanine that results from the protonation/ring-opening of the spiropyran form showed single-molecule diode characteristics, with an average current rectification ratio of 5 at +/- 1 V, favoring the orientation where the positively charged end of the molecule is attached to the negative terminal of the circuit. Mechanical pulling of a single spiropyran molecule drives a switch to a more conducting merocyanine state. The mechanical switching is enabled by the strong Au-C covalent bonding between the molecule and the electrodes, which allows the tensile force delivered by the STM piezo to break the molecule at its spiropyran C-O bond.
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