Quantum charge transport in Mo$_{6}$S$_{3}$I$_{6}$ molecular wire circuits

TL;DR

This study investigates charge transport in Mo$_{6}$S$_{3}$I$_{6}$ nanowires, revealing power law behavior consistent with tunneling through Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid segments and environmental Coulomb blockade effects, with implications for molecular electronics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that thin MoSI wires exhibit tunneling behavior described by TLL models, modified by environmental Coulomb blockade, advancing understanding of molecular-scale electronic components.

Findings

Power law conductivity behavior in MoSI nanowires.

Tunneling through Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid segments.

Environmental Coulomb blockade influences transport properties.

Abstract

Charge transport measurements on flexible Mo$_{6}$S$_{3}$I$_{6}$ (MoSI) nanowires with different diameters in highly imperfect 2-terminal circuits reveal systematic power law behaviour of the conductivity $\sigma(T,V)$ as a function of temperature and voltage. On the basis of measurements on a number of circuits we conclude that the behaviour in \emph{thin} wires can be most convincingly described by tunneling through Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) segments of MoSI wire, which is in some cases modified by environmental Coulomb blockade (ECB). The latter are proposed to arise from deformations or imperfections of the MoSI wires, which - in combination with their recognitive terminal sulfur-based connectivity properties - might be useful for creating sub-nanometer scale interconnects as well as non-linear elements for molecular electronics.