Solvent backaction on single electron transport in redox molecular nanojunctions

这个德国和以色列的研究项目解决了在极性溶剂中工作的纳米氧化还原分子结的导电特性。其关键思想是利用溶剂波动对电子电荷通过分子传导的反作用效应来检测关键的溶剂性质。这种设置可以容易地用作用于溶剂的特征参数的分子全电子纳米传感器的基础，例如，以检测溶解在极性溶剂中的目标物质的浓度或pH浓度的极小变化。我们打算对这种装置进行原理验证。我们将使用基于模型的分子量子输运方法与来自分子真实模拟的输入参数的精细组合。氧化还原分子纳米桥理想地适合于此目的，因为它们基于两个固有的传导通道来操作。一个通道负责将电子定位在分子桥上，而第二个通道产生传导信号。本项目的主要目标是研究溶剂对局域化性质的额外影响，并在传导信号中识别其特征。可以预见可能的技术应用。

This German-Israeli research project addresses the conduction properties of nanoscale redox molecular junctions which operate in a polar solvent. The key idea is to use the backaction effect of the solvent fluctuations on the conduction of electronic charge through the molecule to detect key solvent properties. Such a set-up can readily be used as a basis for a molecular all-electronic nanosensor for the characteristic parameters of the solvent, e.g., to detect ultrasmall changes of concentrations of target species dissolved in a polar solvent, or pH-concentrations. We intend to work out the proof-of-principle of such a device. We shall use a refined combination of a model-based approach of molecular quantum transport with input parameters from realisticsimulations of molecules. Redox molecular nanobrigdes are ideally suited for this purpose, since they operate on the basis of two intrinsic conduction channels. One channel is thereby responsible for the localization of an electron on the molecular bridge, while the second channel generates the conductionsignal. It is the primary goal of this project to study the additional influence of the solvent on the localization properties and to identify its signatures in the conduction signal. Possible technological applications are foreseeable.