Electron Transport through Single Molecules Comprising Aromatic Stacks Enclosed in Self-Assembled Cages

摘要

Understanding how electrons are transported through single molecules is an important challenge in molecular electronics. Electron transfer in noncovalently bound, π-stacked systems has been of particular interest and plays a vital role in biological systems, organic electronics, polymer and materials science, typically on the macroscopic level and in bulk. However, electron transport through the initial building blocks of π-stacked systems has never been directly examined (although many experimental artifacts have been attributed to these small interactions) because creating molecular junctions of stacked π molecules between nanogap electrodes is nontrivial and sequential growing the π stack in a controlled manner typically requires extensive synthesis.