Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft, The Netherlands.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 136, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands.
Nat Chem. 2016 Dec;8(12):1099-1104. doi: 10.1038/nchem.2588. Epub 2016 Aug 15.
Recent observations of destructive quantum interference in single-molecule junctions confirm the role of quantum effects in the electronic conductance properties of molecular systems. These effects are central to a broad range of chemical and biological processes and may be beneficial for the design of single-molecule electronic components to exploit the intrinsic quantum effects that occur at the molecular scale. Here we show that destructive interference can be turned on or off within the same molecular system by mechanically controlling its conformation. Using a combination of ab initio calculations and single-molecule conductance measurements, we demonstrate the existence of a quasiperiodic destructive quantum-interference pattern along the breaking traces of π-stacked molecular dimers. The results demonstrate that it is possible to control the molecular conductance over more than one order of magnitude and with a sub-ångström resolution by exploiting the subtle structure-property relationship of π-stacked dimers.
最近在单分子结中观察到的破坏性量子干涉证实了量子效应对分子系统电子电导性质的作用。这些效应是广泛的化学和生物学过程的核心，对于设计利用分子尺度上发生的固有量子效应的单分子电子元件可能是有益的。在这里，我们通过机械控制其构象表明，在相同的分子系统中可以打开或关闭破坏性干涉。我们使用从头算计算和单分子电导测量的组合，证明了在π堆积分子二聚体的断裂痕迹上存在准周期性破坏性量子干涉模式。结果表明，通过利用π堆积二聚体的微妙结构-性质关系，有可能控制分子电导超过一个数量级，并且分辨率达到亚埃。
