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Single Molecular Junction Study on H 2 O@C 60 : H 2 O is “Electrostatically Isolated”
Author(s) -
Kaneko Satoshi,
Hashikawa Yoshifumi,
Fujii Shintaro,
Murata Yasujiro,
Kiguchi Manabu
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201700173
Subject(s) - molecule , fullerene , conductance , hydrogen bond , chemical physics , endohedral fullerene , chemistry , conjugated system , carbon fibers , materials science , hydrogen , electrode , metal , nanotechnology , computational chemistry , polymer , physics , condensed matter physics , composite number , organic chemistry , composite material
A water molecule exhibits characteristic properties on the basis of hydrogen bonding. In the past decade, single water molecules placed in non‐hydrogen‐bonding environments have attracted growing attention. To reveal the fundamental properties of a single water molecule, endohedral fullerene H 2 O@C 60 is an ideal and suitable model. We examined the electronic properties of H 2 O@C 60 by performing single‐molecule measurements. The conductance of a single molecular junction based on H 2 O@C 60 was found to be comparable to that of empty C 60 . The observed values were remarkably higher than those obtained for conventional molecular junctions due to the effective hybridization of the π‐conjugated system to the metal electrode. Additionally, the results undoubtedly exclude the possibility of electrostatic contact of entrapped H 2 O with the carbon wall of C 60 . We finally concluded that H 2 O entrapped inside a C 60 cage can be regarded as an electrostatically isolated molecule.