Single-molecule detection of dihydroazulene photo-thermal reaction using break junction technique

Cancan Huang; Martyn Jevric; Anders Christian Borges; Stine Tetzschner Olsen; Joseph M. Hamill; Jue Ting Zheng; Yang Yang; Alexander Rudnev; Masoud Baghernejad; Peter Broekmann; Anne Ugleholdt Petersen; Thomas Wandlowski; Kurt Valentin Mikkelsen; Gemma C. Solomon; Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen; Wenjing Hong

doi:10.1038/ncomms15436

Single-molecule detection of dihydroazulene photo-thermal reaction using break junction technique

Cancan Huang, Martyn Jevric, Anders Christian Borges, Stine Tetzschner Olsen, Joseph M. Hamill, Jue Ting Zheng, Yang Yang, Alexander Rudnev, Masoud Baghernejad, Peter Broekmann, Anne Ugleholdt Petersen, Thomas Wandlowski, Kurt Valentin Mikkelsen, Gemma C. Solomon, Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen, Wenjing Hong^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Chemistry

48 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Charge transport by tunnelling is one of the most ubiquitous elementary processes in nature. Small structural changes in a molecular junction can lead to significant difference in the single-molecule electronic properties, offering a tremendous opportunity to examine a reaction on the single-molecule scale by monitoring the conductance changes. Here, we explore the potential of the single-molecule break junction technique in the detection of photo-thermal reaction processes of a photochromic dihydroazulene/vinylheptafulvene system. Statistical analysis of the break junction experiments provides a quantitative approach for probing the reaction kinetics and reversibility, including the occurrence of isomerization during the reaction. The product ratios observed when switching the system in the junction does not follow those observed in solution studies (both experiment and theory), suggesting that the junction environment was perturbing the process significantly. This study opens the possibility of using nano-structured environments like molecular junctions to tailor product ratios in chemical reactions.

Original language	English
Article number	15436
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	8
Number of pages	7
ISSN	2041-1723
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15436
Publication status	Published - 2017

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Huang, C., Jevric, M., Borges, A. C., Olsen, S. T., Hamill, J. M., Zheng, J. T., Yang, Y., Rudnev, A., Baghernejad, M., Broekmann, P., Petersen, A. U., Wandlowski, T., Mikkelsen, K. V., Solomon, G. C., Nielsen, M. B., & Hong, W. (2017). Single-molecule detection of dihydroazulene photo-thermal reaction using break junction technique. Nature Communications, 8, [15436]. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15436

Huang, C, Jevric, M, Borges, AC, Olsen, ST, Hamill, JM, Zheng, JT, Yang, Y, Rudnev, A, Baghernejad, M, Broekmann, P, Petersen, AU, Wandlowski, T, Mikkelsen, KV , Solomon, GC , Nielsen, MB & Hong, W 2017, 'Single-molecule detection of dihydroazulene photo-thermal reaction using break junction technique', Nature Communications, vol. 8, 15436. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15436

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title = "Single-molecule detection of dihydroazulene photo-thermal reaction using break junction technique",

abstract = "Charge transport by tunnelling is one of the most ubiquitous elementary processes in nature. Small structural changes in a molecular junction can lead to significant difference in the single-molecule electronic properties, offering a tremendous opportunity to examine a reaction on the single-molecule scale by monitoring the conductance changes. Here, we explore the potential of the single-molecule break junction technique in the detection of photo-thermal reaction processes of a photochromic dihydroazulene/vinylheptafulvene system. Statistical analysis of the break junction experiments provides a quantitative approach for probing the reaction kinetics and reversibility, including the occurrence of isomerization during the reaction. The product ratios observed when switching the system in the junction does not follow those observed in solution studies (both experiment and theory), suggesting that the junction environment was perturbing the process significantly. This study opens the possibility of using nano-structured environments like molecular junctions to tailor product ratios in chemical reactions.",

author = "Cancan Huang and Martyn Jevric and Borges, {Anders Christian} and Olsen, {Stine Tetzschner} and Hamill, {Joseph M.} and Zheng, {Jue Ting} and Yang Yang and Alexander Rudnev and Masoud Baghernejad and Peter Broekmann and Petersen, {Anne Ugleholdt} and Thomas Wandlowski and Mikkelsen, {Kurt Valentin} and Solomon, {Gemma C.} and Nielsen, {Mogens Br{\o}ndsted} and Wenjing Hong",

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doi = "10.1038/ncomms15436",

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AU - Huang, Cancan

AU - Jevric, Martyn

AU - Borges, Anders Christian

AU - Olsen, Stine Tetzschner

AU - Hamill, Joseph M.

AU - Zheng, Jue Ting

AU - Yang, Yang

AU - Rudnev, Alexander

AU - Baghernejad, Masoud

AU - Broekmann, Peter

AU - Petersen, Anne Ugleholdt

AU - Wandlowski, Thomas

AU - Mikkelsen, Kurt Valentin

AU - Solomon, Gemma C.

AU - Nielsen, Mogens Brøndsted

AU - Hong, Wenjing

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Charge transport by tunnelling is one of the most ubiquitous elementary processes in nature. Small structural changes in a molecular junction can lead to significant difference in the single-molecule electronic properties, offering a tremendous opportunity to examine a reaction on the single-molecule scale by monitoring the conductance changes. Here, we explore the potential of the single-molecule break junction technique in the detection of photo-thermal reaction processes of a photochromic dihydroazulene/vinylheptafulvene system. Statistical analysis of the break junction experiments provides a quantitative approach for probing the reaction kinetics and reversibility, including the occurrence of isomerization during the reaction. The product ratios observed when switching the system in the junction does not follow those observed in solution studies (both experiment and theory), suggesting that the junction environment was perturbing the process significantly. This study opens the possibility of using nano-structured environments like molecular junctions to tailor product ratios in chemical reactions.

AB - Charge transport by tunnelling is one of the most ubiquitous elementary processes in nature. Small structural changes in a molecular junction can lead to significant difference in the single-molecule electronic properties, offering a tremendous opportunity to examine a reaction on the single-molecule scale by monitoring the conductance changes. Here, we explore the potential of the single-molecule break junction technique in the detection of photo-thermal reaction processes of a photochromic dihydroazulene/vinylheptafulvene system. Statistical analysis of the break junction experiments provides a quantitative approach for probing the reaction kinetics and reversibility, including the occurrence of isomerization during the reaction. The product ratios observed when switching the system in the junction does not follow those observed in solution studies (both experiment and theory), suggesting that the junction environment was perturbing the process significantly. This study opens the possibility of using nano-structured environments like molecular junctions to tailor product ratios in chemical reactions.

U2 - 10.1038/ncomms15436

DO - 10.1038/ncomms15436

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28530248

AN - SCOPUS:85019882920

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 8

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 15436

ER -

Single-molecule detection of dihydroazulene photo-thermal reaction using break junction technique

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