Experimental demonstration of a single-molecule electric motor

Tierney, Heather L.; Murphy, Colin J.; Jewell, April D.; Baber, Ashleigh E.; Iski, Erin V.; Khodaverdian, Harout Y.; McGuire, Allister F.; Klebanov, Nikolai; Sykes, E. Charles H.

doi:10.1038/nnano.2011.142

Cited by 259 publications

(301 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Thus, rapid intrapore thermal motions including transient occupation of all accessible states occurs, with hopping rates largely exceeding that of the fast-scanning direction (typically 4 Hz). Accordingly, the imaging process renders an intrapore corrugation pattern with intensity maxima retracing the preferred configurations 33,[45][46][47] .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualization and thermodynamic encoding of single-molecule partition function projections

et al. 2015

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Ensemble averaging of molecular states is fundamental for the experimental determination of thermodynamic quantities. A special case occurs for single-molecule investigations under equilibrium conditions, for which free energy, entropy and enthalpy at finite temperatures are challenging to determine with ensemble averaging alone. Here we report a method to directly record time-averaged equilibrium probability distributions by confining an individual molecule to a nanoscopic pore of a two-dimensional metal-organic nanomesh, using temperaturecontrolled scanning tunnelling microscopy. We associate these distributions with partition function projections to assess real-space-projected thermodynamic quantities, aided by computational modelling. The presented molecular dynamics-based analysis is able to reproduce experimentally observed projected microstates with high accuracy. By an in silico customized energy landscape, we demonstrate that distinct probability distributions can be encrypted at different temperatures. Such modulation provides means to encode and decode information into position-temperature space.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualization and thermodynamic encoding of single-molecule partition function projections

et al. 2015

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“…Chiral molecules rotating parallel to the surface plane due to excitation with tunneling electrons has been reported recently [224]. A unique approach to unidirectional rotors has been taken by Feringa and coworkers.…”

Section: Diastereomers and Diastereomeric Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular chirality at surfaces

Ernst

2012

Physica Status Solidi (b)

218

258

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With the adsorption of larger molecules being increasingly tackled by surface scientists, the aspect of chirality often plays a role. This paper gives a topical review of molecular chirality at surfaces and gives a phenomenological overview of different aspects of adsorption and self‐assembly of chiral and prochiral molecules and the principles of mirror‐symmetry breaking at a surface. After a brief introduction into the history of molecular chirality and the important role it played for understanding the spatial structure of molecules, definitions of chirality are presented. Topics treated here are principle ways to create single chiral adsorbates, chiral ensembles, and monolayers by achiral molecules, adsorption of intrinsically chiral molecules at achiral and chiral surfaces, long‐range symmetry breaking in two‐dimensional (2D) crystals due to additional chiral bias, chiral restructuring of solid surfaces under the influence of chiral molecules, switching the handedness of adsorbates, and chirality at the liquid/air interface. An outlook onto further potential research directions and recommendations for further reading, including nonsurface‐related sources of chiral topics completes this paper.

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“…They can induce structural transformation in nanosystems and transfer energy to phonons, in addition of being the ultimate cause of Joule heating [2]. When the electron current density is large enough, currentinduced forces can control redox reactions at electrode surfaces and affect the functionality and stability of nanodevices, molecular motors, and switches [3][4][5][6][7][8]. As a consequence, gaining insight into the microscopic mechanisms and achieving control of current-induced forces in nanojunctions will pave the way for key advances in interface chemistry, molecular electronics, and in memory and logic applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current-induced phonon renormalization in molecular junctions

et al. 2016

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We explain how the electrical current flow in a molecular junction can modify the vibrational spectrum of the molecule by renormalizing its normal modes of oscillations. This is demonstrated with first-principles self-consistent transport theory, where the current-induced forces are evaluated from the expectation value of the ionic momentum operator. We explore here the case of H 2 sandwiched between two Au electrodes and show that the current produces stiffening of the transverse translational and rotational modes and softening of the stretching modes along the current direction. Such behavior is understood in terms of charge redistribution, potential drop, and elasticity changes as a function of the current.

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Experimental demonstration of a single-molecule electric motor

Cited by 259 publications

References 30 publications

Visualization and thermodynamic encoding of single-molecule partition function projections

Visualization and thermodynamic encoding of single-molecule partition function projections

Molecular chirality at surfaces

Current-induced phonon renormalization in molecular junctions

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