Nanoparticle bridges for studying electrical properties of organic molecules.
The use of single molecules as building blocks for practical electronic devices and sensors has high potential for novel applications due to the versatility of electronic properties of the molecules. Nano-sized molecules offer great potential for further miniaturization of electronic devices. We describe a method where such molecules are used to bridge a nanoparticles-nanoelectrode interface and thus determine the electrical properties of such a junction. We describe in detail the fabrication of the platform, its functionalization with molecules, and the basics of the electrical measurements. This platform has been shown to guide electrical current through a few molecules. The versatility of such nanoparticle-molecule-nanoelectrode heterojunctions makes this platform suitable for both basic molecular electronics measurements and also for molecular sensing devices in biological and medical applications.
Department of Engineering Sciences, Division of Applied Materials Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Klaus.leifer@angstrom.uu.se
Klaus
K
Leifer
Ken
K
Welch
Syed Hassan Mujtaba
SH
Jafri
Tobias
T
Blom
D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D008839:Microelectrodes; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D055672:Static Electricity; D013535:Suspensions / Q000737:chemistry
D009930:Organic Chemicals; D013535:Suspensions; D006046:Gold