title: Local ionic and electron heating in single-molecule junctions.
abstract: A basic aim in molecular electronics is to understand transport through a single molecule connected to two electrodes. Substantial progress towards this goal has been made over the past decade as a result of advances in both experimental techniques and theoretical methods. Nonetheless, a fundamental and technologically important issue, current-induced local heating of molecules, has received much less attention. Here, we report on a combined experimental and theoretical study of local heating in single molecules (6-, 8- and 10-alkanedithiol) covalently attached to two gold electrodes as a function of applied bias and molecular length. We find that the effective local temperature of the molecular junction first increases with applied bias, and then decreases after reaching a maximum. At fixed bias, the effective temperature decreases with increasing molecular length. These experimental findings are in agreement with hydrodynamic predictions, which include both electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: D'agosta
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Ventra
authors.forename: Nongjian
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tao
mesh_terms: D000473:Alkanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004579:Electron Transport; D004583:Electrons; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007477:Ions; D008956:Models, Chemical; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D007477:Ions