Henrik Löfås

Double-functionalized nanopore-embedded gold electrodes for rapid DNA sequencing

We have studied the effect of double-functionalization on gold electrodes for improving nanopore-based DNA sequencing. The functionalizing molecular probes are, respectively, capable of temporarily forming hydrogen bonds with both the nucleobase part and the phosphate group of the target DNA, thus potentially minimizing the structural fluctuations of a single-stranded DNA molecule passing between the gold electrodes. The results of our first-principles study indicate that the proposed setup yields current signals that differ by at least 1 order of magnitude for the four different nucleic acid bases, thus offering the possibility to electrically distinguish them.

Assessment of a nanoparticle bridge platform for molecular electronics measurements

A combination of electron beam lithography, photolithography and focused ion beam milling was used to create a nanogap platform, which was bridged by gold nanoparticles in order to make electrical measurements and assess the platform under ambient conditions. Non-functionalized electrodes were tested to determine the intrinsic response of the platform and it was found that creating devices in ambient conditions requires careful cleaning and awareness of the contributions contaminants may make to measurements. The platform was then used to make measurements on octanethiol (OT) and biphenyldithiol (BPDT) molecules by functionalizing the nanoelectrodes with the molecules prior to bridging the nanogap with nanoparticles. Measurements on OT show that it is possible to make measurements on relatively small numbers of molecules, but that a large variation in response can be expected when one of the metal-molecule junctions is physisorbed, which was partially explained by attachment of OT molecules to different sites on the surface of the Au electrode using a density functional theory calculation. On the other hand, when dealing with BPDT, high yields for device creation are very difficult to achieve under ambient conditions. Significant hysteresis in the I-V curves of BPDT was also observed, which was attributed primarily to voltage induced changes at the interface between the molecule and the metal.

Effective masses and electronic structure of diamond including electron correlation effects in first principles calculations using the GW-approximation

We present calculated interband transitions and effective masses for diamond from first principles including electron correlation effects via the GW-approximation. Our findings are in agreement with experiments, already the first iteration of the GW-scheme gives a direct gap at the gamma-point of 7.38 eV and a indirect gap of 5.75 eV close to experimental values. For deeper bands a quasiparticle self-consistent method is necessary to accurately reproduce the valence band width to 23.1 eV. We also obtain effective hole masses along different symmetry axes and electron conduction masses, ml = 1.1m0 and mt = 0.22m0

Configuration- and Conformation-Dependent Electronic-Structure Variations in 1,4-Disubstituted Cyclohexanes Enabled by a Carbon-to-Silicon Exchange

Cyclohexane, with its well-defined conformers, could be an ideal force-controlled molecular switch if it were to display substantial differences in electronic and optical properties between its conformers. We utilize σ conjugation in heavier analogues of cyclohexanes (i.e. cyclohexasilanes) and show that 1,4-disubstituted cyclohexasilanes display configuration- and conformation-dependent variations in these properties. Cis- and trans-1,4-bis(trimethylsilylethynyl)cyclohexasilanes display a 0.11 V difference in their oxidation potentials (computed 0.11 V) and a 0.34 eV difference in their lowest UV absorption (computed difference between first excitations 0.07 eV). This is in stark contrast to differences in the corresponding properties of analogous all-carbon cyclohexanes (computed 0.02 V and 0.03 eV, respectively). Moreover, the two chair conformers of the cyclohexasilane trans isomer display large differences in electronic-structure-related properties. This enables computational design of a mechanically force-controlled conductance switch with a calculated single-molecule ON/OFF ratio of 213 at zero-bias voltage.

Cooperative Gold Nanoparticle Stabilization by Acetylenic Phosphaalkenes

Acetylenic phosphaalkenes (APAs) are used as a novel type of ligands for the stabilization of gold nanoparticles (AuNP). As demonstrated by a variety of experimental and analytical methods, both structural features of the APA, that is, the P=C as well as the C≡C units are essential for NP stabilization. The presence of intact APAs on the AuNP is demonstrated by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and first principle calculations indicate that bonding occurs most likely at defect sites on the Au surface. AuNP-bound APAs are in chemical equilibrium with free APAs in solution, leading to a dynamic behavior that can be explored for facile place-exchange reactions with other types of anchor groups such as thiols or more weakly binding phosphine ligands.

Hybrid density functional study of electronic and optical properties of phase change memory material : Ge2Sb2Te5

In this article, we use hybrid density functional (HSE06) to study the crystal and electronic structures and optical properties of well known phase change memory material Ge2Sb2Te5. We calculate the structural parameters, band gaps, and dielectric functions of three stable structures of this material. We also analyze the electron charge distribution using the Baders theory of charge analysis. We find that hybrid density functional slightly overestimates the value of “c” parameter. However, overall, our results calculated with the use of hybrid density functional (HSE06) are very close to available experimental values than calculated with the use of Perdew Burke-Ernzerhof functional. Specifically, the electronic band gap values of this material calculated with HSE06 are in good agreement with the available experimental data in the literature. Furthermore, we perform the charge analysis and find that naive ionic model fails to explain the charge distribution between the constituent atoms, showing the compl...

Nano-fabrication of molecular electronic junctions by targeted modification of metal-molecule bonds

Reproducibility, stability and the coupling between electrical and molecular properties are central challenges in the field of molecular electronics. The field not only needs devices that fulfill these criteria but they also need to be up-scalable to application size. In this work, few-molecule based electronics devices with reproducible electrical characteristics are demonstrated. Our previously reported 5 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNP) coated with ω-triphenylmethyl (trityl) protected 1,8-octanedithiol molecules are trapped in between sub-20 nm gap spacing gold nanoelectrodes forming AuNP-molecule network. When the trityl groups are removed, reproducible devices and stable Au-thiol junctions are established on both ends of the alkane segment. The resistance of more than 50 devices is reduced by orders of magnitude as well as a reduction of the spread in the resistance histogram is observed. By density functional theory calculations the orders of magnitude decrease in resistance can be explained and supported by TEM observations thus indicating that the resistance changes and strongly improved resistance spread are related to the establishment of reproducible and stable metal-molecule bonds. The same experimental sequence is carried out using 1,6-hexanedithiol functionalized AuNPs. The average resistances as a function of molecular length, demonstrated herein, are comparable to the one found in single molecule devices.

Identification of vibrational signatures from short chains of interlinked molecule–nanoparticle junctions obtained by inelastic electron tunnelling spectroscopy

Short chains containing a series of metal-molecule-nanoparticle nanojunctions are a nano-material system with the potential to give electrical signatures close to those from single molecule experiments while enabling us to build portable devices on a chip. Inelastic electron tunnelling spectroscopy (IETS) measurements provide one of the most characteristic electrical signals of single and few molecules. In interlinked molecule-nanoparticle (NP) chains containing typically 5-7 molecules in a chain, the spectrum is expected to be a superposition of the vibrational signatures of individual molecules. We have established a stable and reproducible molecule-AuNP multi-junction by placing a few 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT) molecules onto a versatile and portable nanoparticle-nanoelectrode platform and measured for the first time vibrational molecular signatures at complex and coupled few-molecule-NP junctions. From quantum transport calculations, we model the IETS spectra and identify vibrational modes as well as the number of molecules contributing to the electron transport in the measured spectra.

New class of molecular conductance switches based on the [1,3]-silyl migration from silanes to silenes

On the basis of first-principles density functional theory calculations, we propose a new molecular photoswitch which exploits a photochemical [1,3]-silyl(germyl) shift leading from a silane to a silene (a Si=C double bonded compound). The silanes investigated herein act as the OFF state, with tetrahedral saturated silicon atoms disrupting the conjugation through the molecules. The silenes, on the other hand, have conjugated paths spanning over the complete molecules and thus act as the ON state. We calculate ON/OFF conductance ratios in the range of 10–50 at a voltage of +1 V. In the low bias regime, the ON/OFF ratio increases to a range of 200–1150. The reverse reaction could be triggered thermally or photolytically, with the silene being slightly higher in relative energy than the silane. The calculated activation barriers for the thermal back-rearrangement of the migrating group can be tuned and are in the range 108–171 kJ/mol for the switches examined herein. The first-principles calculations together with a simple one-level model show that the high ON/OFF ratio in the molecule assembled in a solid state device is due to changes in the energy position of the frontier molecular orbitals compared to the Fermi energy of the electrodes, in combination with an increased effective coupling between the molecule and the electrodes for the ON state.

Transport coefficients in diamond from ab-initio calculations

By combining the Boltzmann transport equation with ab-initio electronic structure calculations, we obtain transport coefficients for boron-doped diamond. We find the temperature dependence of the resistivity and the hall coefficients in good agreement with experimental measurements. Doping in the samples is treated via the rigid band approximation and scattering is treated in the relaxation time approximation. In contrast to previous results, the acoustic phonon scattering is the dominating scattering mechanism for the considered doping range. At room temperature, we find the thermopower, S, in the range 1–1.6 mV/K and the power factor, S2σ, in the range 0.004–0.16 μW/cm K2.