The charge flow from a single C60 molecule to another one has been probed. The conformation and electronic states of both molecules on the contacting electrodes have been characterized using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscope. While the contact conductance of a single molecule between two Cu electrodes can vary up to a factor of three depending on electrode geometry, the conductance of the C60-C60 contact is consistently lower by two orders of magnitude. First-principles transport calculations reproduce the experimental results, allow a determination of the actual C60-C60 distances, and identify the essential role of the intermolecular link in bi- and trimolecular chains.
@article{arxiv.0910.1281,
title = {Passing current through touching molecules},
author = {Guillaume Schull and Thomas Frederiksen and Mads Brandbyge and Richard Berndt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0910.1281},
year = {2009}
}