Almughathawi Renad, Hou Songjun, Wu Qingqing, Liu Zitong, Hong Wenjing, Lambert Colin
Physics Department, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB Lancaster, United Kingdom.
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
ACS Sens. 2021 Feb 26;6(2):470-476. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.0c02043. Epub 2020 Dec 31.
Manipulating the connectivity of external electrodes to central rings of carbon-based molecules in single molecule junctions is an effective route to tune their thermoelectrical properties. Here we investigate the connectivity dependence of the thermoelectric properties of a series of thiophene-diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) derivative molecules using density functional theory and tight-binding modeling, combined with quantum transport theory. We find a significant dependence of electrical conductance on the connectivity of the two thiophene rings attached to the DPP core. Interestingly, for connectivities corresponding to constructive quantum interference (CQI), different isomers obtained by rotating the thiophene rings possess the same electrical conductance while those corresponding to destructive quantum interference (DQI) show huge conductance variations upon ring rotation. Furthermore, we find that DQI connectivity leads to enhanced Seebeck coefficients, which can reach 500-700 μV/K. After including the contribution to the thermal conductance from phonons, the full figure of merit () for the CQI molecules could reach 1.5 at room temperature and it would further increase to 2 when temperature elevates to 400 K. Finally, we demonstrate that doping with tetracyanoquinodimethane can change the sign of the Seebeck coefficients by forming a charge-transfer system with the DPP.
在单分子结中操控外部电极与碳基分子中心环的连接性是调节其热电性能的有效途径。在此,我们结合量子输运理论,使用密度泛函理论和紧束缚模型,研究了一系列噻吩 - 二酮吡咯并吡咯(DPP)衍生物分子热电性能对连接性的依赖性。我们发现,连接到DPP核心的两个噻吩环的连接性对电导有显著影响。有趣的是,对于对应于相长量子干涉(CQI)的连接性,通过旋转噻吩环得到的不同异构体具有相同的电导,而对于对应于相消量子干涉(DQI)的连接性,环旋转时电导会有巨大变化。此外,我们发现DQI连接性会导致塞贝克系数增强,可达500 - 700 μV/K。在计入声子对热导的贡献后,CQI分子的优值()在室温下可达1.5,当温度升至400 K时会进一步增至2。最后,我们证明用四氰基喹啉二甲烷掺杂可以通过与DPP形成电荷转移体系来改变塞贝克系数的符号。