Department of Chemistry and The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, 929 E 57th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
Adv Mater. 2017 Jul;29(28). doi: 10.1002/adma.201701248. Epub 2017 May 17.
Single-molecular electronics is a potential solution to nanoscale electronic devices. While simple functional single-molecule devices such as diodes, switches, and wires are well studied, complex single-molecular systems with multiple functional units are rarely investigated. Here, a single-molecule AND logic gate is constructed from a proton-switchable edge-on gated pyridinoparacyclophane unit with a light-switchable diarylethene unit. The AND gate can be controlled orthogonally by light and protonation and produce desired electrical output at room temperature. The AND gate shows high conductivity when treated with UV light and in the neutral state, and low conductivity when treated either with visible light or acid. A conductance difference of 7.3 is observed for the switching from the highest conducting state to second-highest conducting state and a conductance ratio of 94 is observed between the most and least conducting states. The orthogonality of the two stimuli is further demonstrated by UV-vis, NMR, and density function theory calculations. This is a demonstration of concept of constructing a complex single-molecule electronic device from two coupled functional units.
单分子电子学是解决纳米尺度电子器件问题的一种有潜力的方法。虽然简单的功能性单分子器件，如二极管、开关和电线，已经得到了很好的研究，但具有多个功能单元的复杂单分子系统却很少被研究。在这里，我们构建了一个由质子可切换的边缘门控吡啶并[g]环芳烃单元和光可切换的二芳基乙烯单元组成的单分子与门逻辑电路。该与门可以通过光和质子化进行正交控制，并在室温下产生所需的电输出。当用紫外光和中性状态处理时，与门表现出高导电性，而当用可见光或酸处理时，与门表现出低导电性。从最高导电状态到第二高导电状态的转换观察到了 7.3 的电导差，在最导电状态和最不导电状态之间观察到了 94 的电导比。通过紫外-可见、NMR 和密度泛函理论计算进一步证明了两种刺激的正交性。这是从两个耦合的功能单元构建复杂单分子电子器件的概念验证。
