Isomeric effects tuning the electron transport in carotenoid derivatives: from ohmic to rectifier behavior

Abstract

Single-molecules have been widely investigated in the last decades due to their promises as devices in molecular electronics. One of the advantages in the use of natural compounds in molecular electronics is the economy of material and molecular synthesis, which makes the process both cheaper and self-sustaining. Although many studies have considered electronic transport in single molecules, there are few studies associated with isomeric effects in biologically appealing systems. In the present work, we have studied ballistic electron transport in two isomeric forms of a retinol molecule: 11-cis and all-trans-retinol. The molecules were connected between two Au(111) electrodes and calculations were performed with the NEGF-DFT methodology. Current-voltage, differential conductance, and rectification curves were obtained and compared for two structures. While 11-cis-retinol shows a more symmetrical current-voltage curve, all-trans-retinol acts as molecular diode for low applied voltages. Our results suggest that a simple isomeric effect modulates the molecular device from nanowires to diodes with potential applications as field-effect transistors.

Electronic and transport properties of new carbon nanoribbons with 5–8–5 carbon rings: tuning stability by the edge shape effect

“…Furthermore, we see that the bands that reach the X -point at 1.20 eV were Dirac bands in the (1,1)zzPOPGNR-P1 32,48,49 case, and that these bands become flat and degenerate close to the X -point, leading to an intense DOS peak.…”

“…Under the bias application, we obtained and analyzed the transport properties of electronic current ( I ) versus the bias application ( V ) ( I – V curve), differential conductance (d I /d V ) versus V and transmission spectra ( T ) versus V and with the energy states ( E ) (the Fermi level was set as zero) for all nanodevices. The transition voltage spectroscopy analysis (TVS) 49,50 using the Fowler–Nordheim (FN) 51 and Millikan–Lauritisen (ML) 52 plots were also investigated for the acPOPGR-PO case.…”

“…To see if this actually happens, we carried out TVS analysis (Fig. 8) 49,50 plotting the FN 51 (ln( I / V 2 ) − (1/ V )) and ML 52 (ln( I ) − (1/ V )) curves. We see from Fig.…”

Application of carotenoids in sustainable energy and green electronics

“…Conductivity of these devices was found to decrease with the size of double bonds. Guedes et al 142 studied ballistic electron transport in two isomeric forms of a retinol (carotenoid) molecules, 11-cis-retinol and all-trans-retinol molecules. The molecules were connected between two Au(111) electrodes.…”

Molecular junction by tunneling in 1D and quasi-1D systems

“…This is due to an asymmetry in the atomic configuration of the quasi-1D system CNT-Na-CNT caused by the relative rotation of the left and right CNT electrodes for to ensure that the system is periodic in the direction of transport [26]. In this case we have an asymmetric system because the electrodes do not have a symmetry, and this results in asymmetric differential conductance [48,49]. In symmetric systems the conductance shows a symmetrical behavior [3,6,50].…”