title: Conjugated thiol linker for enhanced electrical conduction of gold-molecule contacts.
abstract: Single-molecule electrical conduction studies are used to evaluate how the molecular linking unit influences the tunneling efficiency in metal-molecule-metal (m-M-m) junctions. This work uses conducting-probe atomic force microscopy (CP-AFM) to compare the molecular conduction of two pi-bonded molecules: one with a single thiol linker, and another with a conjugated double thiol linker at both ends of the molecules. The results demonstrate that the molecule with conjugated double thiol linkers displays higher conduction in gold-molecule-gold junctions than nonconjugated single thiol-gold contacts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
authors.forename: Alexei V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Tivanski
authors.forename: Yufan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Borguet
authors.forename: Haiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Gilbert C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Waldeck