Project description
Molecule behaviour at electrode interfaces
Molecular electronics is the study and application of molecular building blocks for the fabrication of electronic components. Improved understanding of how molecules interface to the macroscopic world will fuel new high-performance devices. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska Curie programme, the TECh-MoDE project will develop the first hybrid platform to detect the spectro-electrochemical properties in a molecular junction. This dual platform will be based on a scanning tunnelling microscope break-junction and a tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. It will allow researchers to explore the structural richness in supramolecular junctions and the electrochemical gating effects of single-molecule wires of redox molecules. The findings will help researchers design molecule/electrode interfaces that will improve the efficiency of electronic devices.
Objective
To push forward Molecular Electronics, a complete understanding of the nanoscale molecule/electrode interface is a must, since the interactions, structure and electronic characteristics of such interfaces define their physicochemical properties, thus their functionalities. This knowhow will enable exploiting these interfaces as the building blocks for the next generation of high performance and sustainable electronic devices. With the aim to decipher the abovementioned big unknowns, TECh-MoDE will develop the first hybrid platform with spectro-electrochemical detection capabilities of individual molecules under ambient conditions: the EC-TERS/Blinking, which will be based in the communion of two platforms: first, the Scanning Tunneling Microscope Break-Junction will allow to capture the tunnelling current through an individual bridged molecule between two electrodes of Tunneling nanoscale gap, enabling the electrical signatures of a single-molecule electrical contact. Second, the TERS, a high ultrasensitive non-destructive spectroscopic method, will provide spectroscopic features of the trapped molecule under strict electrochemical control. The single-molecule nature of this new platform provides a detailed insight into the molecular junction structure by simultaneously capturing current flow and vibrational spectra during the spontaneous formation of a molecular junction. This state-of-the-art dual-platform will allow to study, for the first time, the evolution of spectro-electrochemical characteristics in a molecular junction. This novel platform will be then exploited to explore several key structural aspects that remain unknown during the formation of single-molecule electrical contacts: (1) the observed multiple contact configurations in most common covalent anchoring chemistry, (2) the structural richness in supramolecular junctions and (3) the electrochemical gating effects of single-molecule wires of redox (bio)molecules.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
80539 Munchen
Germany