title: Sequential Electron Transport and Vibrational Excitations in an Organic Molecule Coupled to Few-Layer Graphene Electrodes.
abstract: Graphene electrodes are promising candidates to improve reproducibility and stability in molecular electronics through new electrode-molecule anchoring strategies. Here we report sequential electron transport in few-layer graphene transistors containing individual curcuminoid-based molecules anchored to the electrodes via π-π orbital bonding. We show the coexistence of inelastic co-tunneling excitations with single-electron transport physics due to an intermediate molecule-electrode coupling; we argue that an intermediate electron-phonon coupling is the origin of these vibrational-assisted excitations. These experimental observations are complemented with density functional theory calculations to model electron transport and the interaction between electrons and vibrational modes of the curcuminoid molecule. We find that the calculated vibrational modes of the molecule are in agreement with the experimentally observed excitations.
authors: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology , Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors: Enrique
authors: E
authors: Burzurí
authors: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology , Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors: Joshua O
authors: JO
authors: Island
authors: CSIC-ICMAB (Institut de Ciència dels Materials de Barcelona), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
authors: Raúl
authors: R
authors: Díaz-Torres
authors: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology , Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors: Alexandra
authors: A
authors: Fursina
authors: CSIC-ICMAB (Institut de Ciència dels Materials de Barcelona), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
authors: Arántzazu
authors: A
authors: González-Campo
authors: Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón (ICMA), CSIC, and Universidad de Zaragoza , Plaza San Francisco s/n, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Roubeau
authors: Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
authors: Simon J
authors: SJ
authors: Teat
authors: CSIC-ICMAB (Institut de Ciència dels Materials de Barcelona), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona , 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.|ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats) , Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Núria
authors: N
authors: Aliaga-Alcalde
authors: Eliseo
authors: E
authors: Ruiz
authors: Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology , Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
authors: Herre S J
authors: HS
authors: van der Zant
keywords: curcuminoids; graphene electrodes; molecular electronics; vibrations