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Mechanical Tuning of Through‐Molecule Conductance in a Conjugated Calix[4]pyrrole
Author(s) -
Stefani Davide,
Perrin Mickael,
GutiérrezCerón Cristian,
Aragonès Albert C.,
LabraMuñoz Jacqueline,
Carrasco Rodrigo D. C.,
Matsushita Yoshitaka,
Futera Zdenek,
Labuta Jan,
Ngo Thien H.,
Ariga Katsuhiko,
DíezPérez Ismael,
van der Zant Herre S. J.,
Dulić Diana,
Hill Jonathan P.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201801076
Subject(s) - conductance , molecule , break junction , conjugated system , pyrrole , porphyrin , density functional theory , quantum tunnelling , electrode , materials science , crystallography , chemical physics , annulene , nanotechnology , chemistry , computational chemistry , photochemistry , optoelectronics , polymer , organic chemistry , composite material , condensed matter physics , physics
Abstract A conformationally flexible calix[4]pyrrole possessing a conjugated electronic structure (an N‐substituted oxoporphyrinogen (OxP) related to porphyrin) was used to investigate the influence of mechanical stretching on the single‐molecule conductance of these molecules using the mechanically‐controlled break junction (MCBJ) technique. The results show that the molecule can be immobilized in a single‐molecule break junction configuration, giving rise to different behaviours. These include step‐like features in the conductance vs. displacement traces as well as conductance traces that exhibit a slower decay (‘downhill’ traces) than measured for direct tunneling. The latter class of traces can be associated with the mechanical manipulation (i. e., stretching) of the molecule with inter‐electrode distances as long as 2 nm. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that OxP molecules are stable under stretching in the length regime studied.