Controlling the Thermoelectric Properties of Thiophene-Derived Single-Molecule Junctions
摘要:
Thermoelectrics are famously challenging to optimize, because of inverse coupling of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity, both of which control the thermoelectric power factor. Inorganic-organic interfaces provide a promising route for realization of the strong electrical and thermal asymmetries required for thermoelectrics. In this work, transport properties of inorganic-organic interfaces are probed and understood at the molecular scale using the STM-break junction measurement technique, theory, and a class of newly synthesized molecules. We synthesized a series of disubstituted thiophene derivatives varying the length of alkylthio-linkers and the number of thiophene rings. These molecules allow the systematic tuning of electronic resonances within the junction. We observed that these molecules have a decreasing Seebeck coefficient with increasing length of the alkyl chain, while oligothiophene junctions show an increasing Seebeck coefficient with length. We find that thiophene-Au junctions have significantly higher Seebeck coefficients, compared to benzenedithiol (in the range of 7-15 mu V/K). A minimal tight-binding model, including a gateway state associated with the S-Au bond, captures and explains both trends. This work identifies S-Au gateway states as being important and potentially tunable features of junction electronic structure for enhancing the power factor of organic/inorganic interfaces.
Electron transport in networks of gold nanoparticles connected by oligothiophene molecular wires
作者:Shin-ichi Taniguchi、Masaru Minamoto、Michio M. Matsushita、Tadashi Sugawara、Yuzo Kawada、Donald Bethell
DOI:10.1039/b604732g
日期:——
Network structures made of π-conjugated molecular wires of oligothiophene 3mer, or 9mer carrying thiol groups at α,ω-positions, and gold nanoparticles with average diameter of 4 nm were prepared on interdigitated gold electrodes. Observation of the resultant assemblies by means of FE-SEM and TEM revealed that the gold nanoparticles were connected by π-molecular wires to form a network. The networks exhibited thermally activated electron transport at room temperature with activation energies of 21and 45 meV for 3mer- and 9mer-networks, respectively, and these values were almost the same as those of networks connected with non-conjugated molecules having similar lengths. However, the activation energy became very small (∼0.1 meV) at temperatures lower than 30 K and non-linear current–voltage characteristics (I
∝
V3) appeared in π-conjugated networks at 4.2 K. These results suggest that the gold nanoparticles in the networks work as Coulomb islands and the temperature-independent behavior at lower temperatures can be interpreted in terms of a co-tunneling mechanism.
Controlling the Thermoelectric Properties of Thiophene-Derived Single-Molecule Junctions
作者:William B. Chang、Cheng-Kang Mai、Michele Kotiuga、Jeffrey B. Neaton、Guillermo C. Bazan、Rachel A. Segalman
DOI:10.1021/cm504254n
日期:2014.12.23
Thermoelectrics are famously challenging to optimize, because of inverse coupling of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity, both of which control the thermoelectric power factor. Inorganic-organic interfaces provide a promising route for realization of the strong electrical and thermal asymmetries required for thermoelectrics. In this work, transport properties of inorganic-organic interfaces are probed and understood at the molecular scale using the STM-break junction measurement technique, theory, and a class of newly synthesized molecules. We synthesized a series of disubstituted thiophene derivatives varying the length of alkylthio-linkers and the number of thiophene rings. These molecules allow the systematic tuning of electronic resonances within the junction. We observed that these molecules have a decreasing Seebeck coefficient with increasing length of the alkyl chain, while oligothiophene junctions show an increasing Seebeck coefficient with length. We find that thiophene-Au junctions have significantly higher Seebeck coefficients, compared to benzenedithiol (in the range of 7-15 mu V/K). A minimal tight-binding model, including a gateway state associated with the S-Au bond, captures and explains both trends. This work identifies S-Au gateway states as being important and potentially tunable features of junction electronic structure for enhancing the power factor of organic/inorganic interfaces.