Molecular Conformation in Charge Tunneling across Large-Area Junctions

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2021-08-20
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Norris, Sean
Thakur, Abhishek
Chen, Jiahao
VanVeller, Brett
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VanVeller, Brett
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Materials Science and Engineering
Materials engineers create new materials and improve existing materials. Everything is limited by the materials that are used to produce it. Materials engineers understand the relationship between the properties of a material and its internal structure — from the macro level down to the atomic level. The better the materials, the better the end result — it’s as simple as that.
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Electrical and Computer EngineeringMaterials Science and EngineeringChemistryCenter for Bioplastics and BiocompositesMicroelectronics Research Center (MRC)
Abstract

Self-assembled monolayers are predicated on thermodynamic equilibrium; hence, their properties project accessible relaxation pathways. Herein, we demonstrate that charge tunneling correlates with conformational degrees of freedom(s). Results from open chain and cyclic head groups show that, as expected, distribution in tunneling data correlates with the orientation of the head group, akin to the odd–even effect and more importantly the degree of conformational freedom, but fluctuates with applied bias. Trends in nature of distributions in current density illuminate the need for higher statistical moments in understanding these rather dynamic systems. We employ skewness, kurtosis, and estimation plots to show that the conformational degree of freedom in the head group significantly amplifies the odd–even effect and may lead to enhanced or perturbed tunneling based on whether the head group is on an odd- or even-parity spacer.

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This document is the unedited Author’s version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Journal of the American Chemical Society, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c06622 Posted with permission.

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Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2021
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