- Single-Molecule Conductance in Atomically Precise Germanium Wires
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While the electrical conductivity of bulk-scale group 14 materials such as diamond carbon, silicon, and germanium is well understood, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the conductivity of these materials at the nano and molecular scales. Filling this gap is important because integrated circuits have shrunk so far that their active regions, which rely so heavily on silicon and germanium, begin to resemble ornate molecules rather than extended solids. Here we unveil a new approach for synthesizing atomically discrete wires of germanium and present the first conductance measurements of molecular germanium using a scanning tunneling microscope-based break-junction (STM-BJ) technique. Our findings show that germanium and silicon wires are nearly identical in conductivity at the molecular scale, and that both are much more conductive than aliphatic carbon. We demonstrate that the strong donor ability of C-Ge I-bonds can be used to raise the energy of the anchor lone pair and increase conductance. Furthermore, the oligogermane wires behave as conductance switches that function through stereoelectronic logic. These devices can be trained to operate with a higher switching factor by repeatedly compressing and elongating the molecular junction.
- Su, Timothy A.,Li, Haixing,Zhang, Vivian,Neupane, Madhav,Batra, Arunabh,Klausen, Rebekka S.,Kumar, Bharat,Steigerwald, Michael L.,Venkataraman, Latha,Nuckolls, Colin
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p. 12400 - 12405
(2015/10/12)
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- Photochemical reactions of aryl-substituted catenates of group 4B elements, PhMe2E-E'Me3 (E, E' = Si and Ge). Formation of a radical pair
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Photochemical reactions of phenyl substituted catenates of group 4B elements, PhMe2E-E'Me3 (E, E' = Si and Ge) have been investigated by chemical trapping experiments and laser flash-photolysis.On irradiation, the phenylated group 4B catenate undergoes E-E' bond homolysis to give a pair of radicals (PhMe2E. and Me3E'.).In CCl4, these radicals are converted to the corresponding chlorides by abstraction of a chlorine atom.In a nonhalogenated solvent, the radical pair couples at the ipso-position of the phenyl group of the pairing radical (PhMe2E.) to yield the cor responding diradical.This undergoes either elimination of a divalent species (Me2E:) with concomitant formation of trimethylphenyl group 4B element PhMe3E') or intramolecular 1,2-group 4B element migration to yield group 4B metal-carbon double bonded species.The radical escapes from the solvent cage coupled to the metal atom of the radical to yield the dimetallic product.The reaction path observed is highly dependent on the nature of the group 4B element comprising the phenyl substituted catenate.
- Mochida, Kunio,Kikkawa, Haruhiko,Nakadaira, Yasuhiro
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