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Molecular switching by proton-coupled electron transport drives giant negative differential resistance

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posted on 2024-10-23, 09:11 authored by Qian Zhang, Yulong WANG, Cameron Nickle, Ziyu Zhang, Andrea Leoncini, Dong Chen Qi, Kai Sotthewes, Alessandro Borrini, Harold J. W. Zandvliet, Enrique del Barco, Damien ThompsonDamien Thompson, Christian A. Nijhuis

To develop new types of dynamic molecular devices with atomic-scale control over electronic function, new types of molecular switches are needed with time-dependent switching probabilities. We report such a molecular switch based on proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction with giant hysteric negative differential resistance (NDR) with peak-to-valley ratios of 120 ± 6.6 and memory on/off ratios of (2.4 ± 0.6) × 103 . The switching dynamics probabilities are modulated by bias voltage sweep rate and can also be controlled by pH and relative humidity, confirmed by kinetic isotope effect measurements. The demonstrated dynamical and environment-specific modulation of giant NDR and memory effects provide new opportunities for bioelectronics and artificial neural networks.

Funding

SSPC_Phase 2

Science Foundation Ireland

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2D Multiferroics: From Materials Design to Device Conceptualization

Australian Research Council

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Intelligent Molecules for Brain-Like Devices

Dutch Research Council

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History

Publication

Nature Communications, 2024, 15, Article No: 8300

Publisher

Nature Research

Other Funding information

We thank the Ministry of Education (MOE, Award No. MOE2018-T2-1-088 and MOE2019-T2-1-137) and the Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore,under its Medium Sized Center program for supporting this research.Q.Z. acknowledges support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22403011) and Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (Grant No. CSTB2024NSCQ-MSX0810). D.T. acknowledges support from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under award number 12/ RC/2275_P2 (SSPC) and supercomputing resources at the SFI/Higher Education Authority Irish Center for High-End Computing (ICHEC). E.d.B. and C.N. acknowledge support from the U.S. National Science Foun?dation (Grant no. ECCS#1916874). D.Q. acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council (Grant No. DP230101904). C.A.N. acknowledges support from the Dutch Research Council (NWO), VI.C.222.037. Part of this research was undertaken on the Soft X-ray Spectroscopy beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, part of ANSTO.

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  • Bernal Institute

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  • (4) Quality Education

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  • Physics

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