TY - JOUR
T1 - Photoconductance from Exciton Binding in Molecular Junctions
AU - Zhou, Jianfeng
AU - Wang, Kun
AU - Xu, Bingqian
AU - Dubi, Yonatan
N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank the U.S. National Science Foundation (ECCS0823849, ECCS 1231967, and ECCS 1609788) for partial financial support of this work. Funding Information: The authors thank the U.S. National Science Foundation (ECCS 0823849, ECCS 1231967, and ECCS 1609788) for partial financial support of this work. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/1/10
Y1 - 2018/1/10
N2 - We report on a theoretical analysis and experimental verification of a mechanism for photoconductance, the change in conductance upon illumination, in symmetric single-molecule junctions. We demonstrate that photoconductance at resonant illumination arises due to the Coulomb interaction between the electrons and holes in the molecular bridge, so-called exciton-binding. Using a scanning tunneling microscopy break junction technique, we measure the conductance histograms of perylene tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) molecules attached to Au-electrodes, in the dark and under illumination, and show a significant and reversible change in conductance, as expected from the theory. Finally, we show how our description of the photoconductance leads to a simple design principle for enhancing the performance of molecular switches.
AB - We report on a theoretical analysis and experimental verification of a mechanism for photoconductance, the change in conductance upon illumination, in symmetric single-molecule junctions. We demonstrate that photoconductance at resonant illumination arises due to the Coulomb interaction between the electrons and holes in the molecular bridge, so-called exciton-binding. Using a scanning tunneling microscopy break junction technique, we measure the conductance histograms of perylene tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) molecules attached to Au-electrodes, in the dark and under illumination, and show a significant and reversible change in conductance, as expected from the theory. Finally, we show how our description of the photoconductance leads to a simple design principle for enhancing the performance of molecular switches.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040352284&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b10479
DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b10479
M3 - Article
SN - 0002-7863
VL - 140
SP - 70
EP - 73
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society
IS - 1
ER -