Single-molecule electric revolving door.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 24127690.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/nl401340c.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
This work proposes a new type of molecular machine, the single-molecule electric revolving door, which utilizes conductance dependence upon molecular conformation as well as destructive quantum interference. We perform electron transport simulations in the zero-bias limit using the Landauer formalism together with density functional theory. The simulations show that the open- and closed-door states, accompanied by significant conductance variation, can be operated by an external electric field. The large on-off conductance ratio (~10(5)) implies that the molecular machine can also serve as an effective switching device. The simultaneous control and detection of the door states can function at the nanosecond scale, thereby offering a new capability for molecular-scale devices.