Electronic structures and coherent quantum transport properties are explored for spin-crossover molecule iron-benzene Fe(Bz)2 using density functional theory combined with non-equilibrium Green's function. High- and low-spin states are investigated for two different lead-molecule junctions. It is found that the asymmetrical T-shaped contact junction in the high-spin state behaves as an efficient spin filter while it has a smaller conductivity than that in the low-spin state. Large spin Seebeck effect is also observed in asymmetrical T-shaped junction. Spin-polarized properties are absent in the symmetrical H-shaped junction. These findings strongly suggest that both the electronic and contact configurations play significant roles in molecular devices and metal-benzene complexes are promising materials for spintronics and thermo-spintronics.

We present a theoretical study on a series of cobalt complexes, which are constructed with cobalt atoms and pyridine/pyrimidine rings, using density functional theory. We investigate the structural and electric transport properties of spin crossover (SCO) Co complex with two spin states, namely low-spin configuration [LS] and high-spin configuration [HS]. Energy analyses of the two spin states imply that the SCO Co-Pyridine and Co-Pyrimidine complexes may display a spin transition process accompanied by a geometric modification driven by external stimuli. A nearly perfect spin filtering effect is observed in the Co-Pyrimidine complex with [HS] state. In addition, we also discover the contact-dependent transmission properties of Co-Pyridine. These findings indicate that SCO Co complexes are promising materials for molecular spintronic devices.

The modification effects of the groups amino (NH) and nitro (NO) on the spin polarized transport properties of the cobalt benzene-porphyrin-benzene (Co-BPB) molecule coupled to gold (Au) nanowire electrodes are investigated by the nonequilibrium Green's function method combined with the density functional theory. The calculation results show that functional groups can lead to the significant spin-filter effect, enhanced low-bias negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior and novel reverse rectifying effect in Co-BPB molecular junction. The locations and types of functional groups have distinct influences on spin-polarized transport performances. The configuration with NH group substituting H atom in central porphyrin ring has larger spin-down current compared to that with NO substitution. And Co-BPB molecule junction with NH group substituting H atom in side benzene ring shows reverse rectifying effect. Detailed analyses confirm that NH and NO group substitution change the spin-polarized transferred charge, which makes the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) of spin-down channel of Co-BPB closer to the Fermi level. And the shift of HOMO strengthens the spin-polarized coupling between the molecular orbitals and the electrodes, leading to the enhanced spin-polarized behavior. Our findings might be useful in the design of multi-functional molecular devices in the future.

The electronic transport properties of benzene-porphyrin-benzene (BPB) molecules coupled to gold (Au) electrodes were investigated. By successively removing the front-end Au atoms, several BPB junctions with different molecule-electrode contact symmetries were constructed. The calculated current-voltage (I-V) curves depended strongly on the contact configurations between the BPB molecules and the Au electrodes. In particular, a significant low-voltage negative differential resistance effect appeared at -0.3 V in the junctions with pyramidal electrodes on both sides. Along with the breaking of this tip-contact symmetry, the low-bias negative differential resistance effect gradually disappeared. This tip-contact may be ideal for use in the design of future molecular devices because of its similarity with experimental processes.