English

A multivariate approach to single-molecule thermopower and electric conductance measurements

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2021-09-24 v1 Applied Physics

Abstract

We report a method using scanning tunnelling microscope single molecular break junction to simultaneously measure and correlate the single-molecule thermopower and electrical conductance. In contrast to previously reported approaches, it does not require custom-built electronics and takes advantage of a trace-by-trace calibration of the thermal offset at the Au/Au contact, thus greatly facilitating thermoelectric measurements at the single-molecule level. We report measurements of three molecules: 1,4-di(4-(ethynyl(phenylthioacetate)) benzene, 1,8-octanedithiol, and 4,4'-bipyridine, and determine single-molecule Seebeck coefficients of 12(3), 5(2), and -5(2) microV K-1, respectively. Furthermore, the method statistically correlates the Seebeck voltage offset, electrical conductance, and stretching displacement of the single-molecule junction, and allows for direct comparison with current-distance spectroscopy results obtained at constant bias.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.11014,
  title  = {A multivariate approach to single-molecule thermopower and electric conductance measurements},
  author = {Joseph M. Hamill and Christopher Weaver and Tim Albrecht},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.11014},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

32 pages, 11 figures including supporting information