Carbon tips as electrodes for single-molecule junctions

TL;DR

This study investigates electron transport in single-molecule junctions with gold electrodes and carbon tips, revealing conductance plateaus that indicate stable molecular junction formation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup using carbon tips as electrodes in single-molecule junctions and measures their conductance properties.

Findings

Observation of well-defined conductance plateaus during junction stretching

Confirmation of stable molecular junction formation with carbon tips

Quantitative conductance measurements of octanethiol-based junctions

Abstract

We study electron transport through single-molecule junctions formed by an octanethiol molecule bonded with the thiol anchoring group to a gold electrode and the opposing methyl endgroup to a carbon tip. Using the scanning tunneling microscope based break junction technique, we measure the electrical conductance of such molecular junctions. We observe the presence of well-defined conductance plateaus during the stretching of the molecular bridge, which is the signature of the formation of a molecular junction.