Berlin 2015 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 103: Transport: Poster Session
TT 103.14: Poster
Thursday, March 19, 2015, 15:00–18:00, Poster B
Electron transport in Diarylethene Switches: A combined theoretical and experimental approach — •Lokamani Lokamani1, Torsten Sendler1, Peter Zahn1, Sibylle Gemming1,2, and Artur Erbe1 — 1Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V., Germany — 2SKALMOD, Institute of Physics, TU-Chemnitz, Germany
Diarylethene, a class of photosensitive molecules which exhibit photo-choromism, can be switched optically between open- and closed-ring isomers. The open-ring isomer is non-planar with the pi-system localized on two aryl groups. On the other hand, the closed-ring isomer is highly planar with the pi-conjugated-system extending over the whole molecule. In break-junction experiments diarylethene in open and closed-ring isomeric form can be distinguished by a low or high conductance state with a difference in current levels of about an order of magnitude. Moreover, these molecules exhibit stable current-voltage characteristics in both the conductance states.
Here, we study the electronic transport properties of such derivatives at the level of single molecules using density functional theory and non-equilibrium greens function. In particular, we analyse the effect of strongly electrophillic groups on conductance properties of single molecules attached to gold electrodes. A comparison to break junction experimental results is also presented.