title: Chemical control of electrical contact to sp² carbon atoms.
abstract: Carbon-based nanostructures are attracting tremendous interest as components in ultrafast electronics and optoelectronics. The electrical interfaces to these structures play a crucial role for the electron transport, but the lack of control at the atomic scale can hamper device functionality and integration into operating circuitry. Here we study a prototype carbon-based molecular junction consisting of a single C60 molecule and probe how the electric current through the junction depends on the chemical nature of the foremost electrode atom in contact with the molecule. We find that the efficiency of charge injection to a C60 molecule varies substantially for the considered metallic species, and demonstrate that the relative strength of the metal-C bond can be extracted from our transport measurements. Our study further suggests that a single-C60 junction is a basic model to explore the properties of electrical contacts to meso- and macroscopic sp(2) carbon structures.
authors.affiliation: 1] Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, E-20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain [2] IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, E-48011 Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frederiksen
authors.affiliation: 1] Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, E-20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain [2] Centro de Física de Materiales, Centro Mixto CSIC-UPV, Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 5, E-20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Foti
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, UMR 7504 (CNRS-Université de Strasbourg), Strasbourg 67034, France.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Scheurer
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, UMR 7504 (CNRS-Université de Strasbourg), Strasbourg 67034, France.
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Speisser
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, UMR 7504 (CNRS-Université de Strasbourg), Strasbourg 67034, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schull
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