Development of a new molecular device using thermoelectric measurement system on nano-composite film

本研究的目的是实现一种新的分子装置，它可以在不施加强电场的情况下，阐明靶分子的导电性和电子结构。制作了用于热电测量的微米和亚微米级电极图案。作为该系统的一个测试实例，成功地测量了单个硼纳米带的塞贝克系数。在亚微米间隙的微电极之间制备了金属纳米颗粒(Au)和氧化物绝缘体基质(Al_2O_3)纳米复合膜，用于固定靶分子。金纳米粒子的平均直径约为5 nm，粒子间距约为2 nm，分布均匀。在某些情况下，发现了分子固定化前后电流-偏压曲线的变化。然而，固定化不能被重复检测到。颗粒间的距离应该比我们研究的要小。

Purpose of this study is to realize a new molecular device that elucidates the conductivity and electronic structure of target molecules, without applying strong electric field. Micron- and submicron-scale electrode patterns for the thermoelectric measurement were fabricated. As a test case of this system, Seebeck coefficient of individual boron nanobelt was successfully measured. Nanocomposite films of metal nanoparticles (Au) and oxide insulator matrix (Al_2O_3) for immobilization of target molecule were fabricated between micro-electrodes with submicron gap length. The Au nanoparticles with average diameter of approximately 5nm, and inter-particle distance of 2nm were uniformly distributed. In some case, change in current vs bias voltage curve before and after molecular immobilization was found. However, the immobilization could not be reproducibly detected. The inter-particle distance should be smaller than that in our study.