<p>Atomically precise construction of ultra-small electronic devices meets the urgent need for further device miniaturisation and enables numerous electronic applications. In particular, single-molecule junctions are attractive because they serve as platforms for studying fundamental scientific laws at the single-molecule level and can be used to build functional devices. Here, we present a robust methodology using anisotropic hydrogen plasma etching of graphene and in situ Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction to construct, with atomic precision, uniform covalently bonded graphene-molecule-graphene (GMG) single-molecule junctions with clear zigzag graphene edges. Applying the methodology to an azulene-type molecule, stable GMG single-molecule junctions are constructed with high yield (~82%) and high uniformity (~1.56% conductance variance over 60 devices). The reliability of the platform is shown via real-time and direct electrical monitoring of the three-level conductance fluctuation of an individual azulene molecule. This work demonstrates a universal single-molecule platform that offers countless opportunities to reveal intrinsic molecular properties and build high-performance functional molecular nanocircuits.</p>

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Atomically precise construction of uniform single-molecule junctions for molecular electronics

  • Mingyao Li,
  • Bing Yin,
  • Boyu Wang,
  • Weilin Hu,
  • Jie Cheng,
  • Chunyan Gao,
  • Zezhou Li,
  • Yang Xu,
  • Chen Yang,
  • Xinmiao Xie,
  • Jie Guo,
  • Cong Zhao,
  • Jinying Wang,
  • Xike Gao,
  • Yanfeng Zhang,
  • Jihan Zhou,
  • Zhiheng Yang,
  • Agostino Migliore,
  • Chuancheng Jia,
  • Xuefeng Guo

摘要

Atomically precise construction of ultra-small electronic devices meets the urgent need for further device miniaturisation and enables numerous electronic applications. In particular, single-molecule junctions are attractive because they serve as platforms for studying fundamental scientific laws at the single-molecule level and can be used to build functional devices. Here, we present a robust methodology using anisotropic hydrogen plasma etching of graphene and in situ Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction to construct, with atomic precision, uniform covalently bonded graphene-molecule-graphene (GMG) single-molecule junctions with clear zigzag graphene edges. Applying the methodology to an azulene-type molecule, stable GMG single-molecule junctions are constructed with high yield (~82%) and high uniformity (~1.56% conductance variance over 60 devices). The reliability of the platform is shown via real-time and direct electrical monitoring of the three-level conductance fluctuation of an individual azulene molecule. This work demonstrates a universal single-molecule platform that offers countless opportunities to reveal intrinsic molecular properties and build high-performance functional molecular nanocircuits.