title: Active and non-active large-area metal-molecules-metal junctions.
abstract: The study of charge transport processes through organic molecules by using molecular junctions has generated great attention in the last few years, partially triggered by the possibility of developing molecular electronic devices to be implemented somehow into current silicon-based technology. As experimental tools, a large variety of conceptually and geometrically different metal-molecule(s)-metal junctions has been proposed. While the intrinsic conductivity of a molecule is still elusive, parameters crucial for molecular electronics have been extracted by using a variety of junctions. Significantly, the results extracted from molecular junctions and those obtained by the kinetic approach in supramolecular D-B-A systems are complementary. For the sake of a practical discussion, a distinction is made between "active junctions" and "non-active junctions". Active junctions are those aimed at switching the electrical response by an external stimulus acting "in situ" to modify the electronic structure of the molecular system. Non-active junctions are those aimed at studying different conduction regimes by incorporating molecules of different electronic structures. Depending on their geometry, the junctions can incorporate different numbers of molecules. Large area molecular junctions present two main advantages: (1) a simpler assembly, by requiring less sophisticated fabrication and (2) a higher versatility, relative to single molecule junctions, towards potential applications in organic electronics. The present chapter focuses on the fabrication of a variety of large-area molecular junctions and summarizes and compares the experimental results.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Branchi
authors.forename: Felice C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Simeone
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rampi