title: Electrical conductance and structure of copper atomic junctions in the presence of water molecules.
abstract: We have investigated Cu atomic contacts in the presence of H2O both experimentally and theoretically. The conductance measurements showed the formation of H2O/Cu junctions with a fixed conductance value of around 0.1 G0 (G0 = 2e(2)/h). These structures were found to be stable and could be stretched over 0.5 nm, indicating the formation of an atomic or molecular chain. In agreement with the experimental findings, theoretical calculations revealed that the conductance of H2O/Cu junctions decreases in stages as the junction is stretched, with the formation of a H2O/Cu atomic chain with a conductance of ca. 0.1 G0 prior to junction rupture. Conversely, in the absence of H2O, the conductance of the Cu junction remains close to 1 G0 prior to the junction rupture and abrupt conductance drop.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 W4-10 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. kaneko.s.aa@m.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6. asaffarz@sfu.ca.
authors.forename: Firuz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 W4-10 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. kaneko.s.aa@m.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 W4-10 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. kaneko.s.aa@m.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shintaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 W4-10 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. kaneko.s.aa@m.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishino
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6. asaffarz@sfu.ca and Department of Physics, Payame Noor University, P.O. Box 19395-3697 Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saffarzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6. asaffarz@sfu.ca.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kirczenow
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 W4-10 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan. kaneko.s.aa@m.titech.ac.jp kiguti@chem.titech.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiguchi