Li Mingyao, Yin Bing, Wang Boyu, Hu Weilin, Cheng Jie, Gao Chunyan, Li Zezhou, Xu Yang, Yang Chen, Xie Xinmiao, Guo Jie, Zhao Cong, Wang Jinying, Gao Xike, Zhang Yanfeng, Zhou Jihan, Yang Zhiheng, Migliore Agostino, Jia Chuancheng, Guo Xuefeng
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, National Biomedical Imaging Centre, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 18;16(1):7657. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63113-x.
Atomically precise construction of ultra-small electronic devices meets the urgent need for further device miniaturisation and enables numerous electronic applications. In particular, single-molecule junctions are attractive because they serve as platforms for studying fundamental scientific laws at the single-molecule level and can be used to build functional devices. Here, we present a robust methodology using anisotropic hydrogen plasma etching of graphene and in situ Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction to construct, with atomic precision, uniform covalently bonded graphene-molecule-graphene (GMG) single-molecule junctions with clear zigzag graphene edges. Applying the methodology to an azulene-type molecule, stable GMG single-molecule junctions are constructed with high yield (82%) and high uniformity (1.56% conductance variance over 60 devices). The reliability of the platform is shown via real-time and direct electrical monitoring of the three-level conductance fluctuation of an individual azulene molecule. This work demonstrates a universal single-molecule platform that offers countless opportunities to reveal intrinsic molecular properties and build high-performance functional molecular nanocircuits.
超小型电子器件的原子精确构建满足了进一步缩小器件尺寸的迫切需求，并推动了众多电子应用的发展。特别是单分子结具有吸引力，因为它们可作为在单分子水平上研究基本科学规律的平台，还能用于构建功能器件。在此，我们展示了一种稳健的方法，即利用石墨烯的各向异性氢等离子体蚀刻和原位傅克酰基化反应，以原子精度构建具有清晰锯齿形石墨烯边缘的均匀共价键合石墨烯-分子-石墨烯（GMG）单分子结。将该方法应用于薁类分子，可高产率（约82%）且高均匀性（60个器件的电导方差约为1.56%）地构建稳定的GMG单分子结。通过对单个薁分子的三级电导波动进行实时直接电监测，展示了该平台的可靠性。这项工作展示了一个通用的单分子平台，为揭示分子内在性质和构建高性能功能分子纳米电路提供了无数机会。
