Electrochemical Wiring of a Metal Nanofilament to Form a Molecular Junction

Sekito Nishimuro; Tohru Tsuruoka; Tatsuhiko Ohto; Koya Akashi; Tomoaki Nishino; Kazuya Terabe; Satoshi Kaneko

doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.6c00582

Journal article Electrochemical Wiring of a Metal Nanofilament to Form a Molecular Junction

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Sekito Nishimuro, Tohru Tsuruoka, Tatsuhiko Ohto, Koya Akashi, Tomoaki Nishino, Kazuya Terabe, Satoshi Kaneko. Electrochemical Wiring of a Metal Nanofilament to Form a Molecular Junction. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 2026, 17 (22), 6176-6182. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.6c00582

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Leveraging the functionalities of molecules in electronic devices seems promising for the development of next-generation technologies. However, wiring from the electrode to a molecular layer is challenging. Here, we introduce a method for connecting microscale metal electrodes to a molecular layer using an atomic switch that controls the formation and rupture of a metal nanofilament using a bias voltage. Specifically, a 1,4-benzeneditiol (BDT) molecular layer is embedded within an atomic switch. A bias sweep applied to the Ag electrode induces a transition between a high-conductive state (2 mG 0, where G 0 = 2e 2/h ) and a low-conductive state (35 µG 0). Both high and low-conductive states exhibit nonvolatile operation. Current–voltage analysis collaborated with the density functional theory simulation reveals that the Ag/BDT/Ag junction with about 20 molecules forms in the high conductive state. These results indicate that our method is effective for wiring between a microscale electrode and a nanoscale molecular layer.

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