Quantised double layer charging of monolayer-protected clusters in a room temperature ionic liquid

Multivalued and Reversible Logic Gates Implemented with Metallic Nanoparticles and Organic Ligands

“…40 Because metallic nanoparticles exhibit experimental capacitances of the order of 10 −18 F=1 aF, Coulomb blockade phenomena can be observed at close to ambient temperatures 28. 31–35, 41, 42, 48 Electron transfer is assumed to occur by tunneling through the ligands between the electrodes and the nanoparticle 42–43. 49, 50 The left and right ligands have tunneling resistances R L and R R that are much higher than the quantum resistance ${R_0 = h/e^2 = 26\,{\rm{k}}{\rm{\Omega }}}$ , where e is the elementary charge and h is the Planck constant.…”

“…The system parameters are R L = R R =100 MΩ and C L = C R =1 aF, which are values typical of nanostructures 4. 6, 31–34, 41–44, 50 Gate and back‐gate capacitances are C G =1 aF and ${C_{\rm{G}}^{\rm{b}} = 1}$ aF, respectively. Gate and back‐gate potentials are set to zero, ${V_{\rm{G}} = V_{\rm{G}}^{\rm{b}} = 0}$ V. Figure 2 b shows the effect of the gate potential on the current for a bias voltage V =0.03 V (one gate) and V =0.015 V (gate and back‐gate) and the same parameters of Figure 2 a.…”

“…Also, higher operation temperatures could be achieved by reducing further the system dimensions, which seems feasible (in fact, Coulomb blockade effects have been demonstrated experimentally at ambient conditions) 28. 31–35, 41, 42 We believe that emphasizing the physical concepts involved will constitute a previous step to practical implementation.…”

Dynamics of ionic liquid mediated quantised charging of monolayer-protected clusters

“…In a recent paper, we demonstrated for the first time 8 wellbehaved quantised charging of small monolayer-protected gold clusters (MPCs) in an ionic liquid. Also the study of these nanoscale objects is an example of a research field where prolific interest in the past 15 years was fuelled both by numerous questions of a fundamental nature and by the prospect of significant applications in nanoelectronics, owing mainly to their subattofarad capacitance which allows for quantised charging at room temperature (vide infra).…”

On the application potential of gold nanoparticles in nanoelectronics and biomedicine

“…Concerning the electrochemical properties, which also reflect Coulomb charging effects, we refer to recent reviews (Laaksonen et al 2008;Zabet-Khosousi & Dhirani 2008), since a detailed description would far exceed the scope of this review. It should just briefly be mentioned that multiple charging becomes feasible in an electrochemical environment (Mertens et al 2009), which could be relevant for multistate logic (Albrecht et al 2007). …”