title: Direct measurement of electron transfer through a hydrogen bond between single molecules.
abstract: Understanding electron transfer (ET) from a single molecule to another single molecule holds essential importance to realize bottom-up molecular devices in which constituent molecules are self-assembled via noncovalent interactions between each other. However, rather little is currently known about the ET properties at the single-molecule interface. Here we employ molecular tips to quantify the ET through a H-bond between single molecules. We found that a H-bond conducts electrons better than a covalent σ bond at short-range. Its conductance, however, decays steeply as the chain length of the H-bonded molecules increases. First-principle calculations were performed to reveal the electronic origin of the facile ET through the H-bond. Our results demonstrate that H-bonding in a molecular junction significantly affects its transport property.
authors.affiliation: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research Center, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka 599-8570, Japan. t-nishino@21c.osakafu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishino
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Phuc T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Bui