Wang Chuan-Kui

Switching properties of bi-OPE-monothiol molecular junctions: Substituent effects and improvement of open-close ratio

The electronic transport properties of a new kind of molecular switches — bi-OPE-monothiol molecular switches — were studied by applying first-principles calculations and generalized elastic scattering Greens function. The numerical results show that, for a bi-OPE-molecule junction, the offset face-to-face configuration induces more delocalized molecular orbitals, and results in higher conductivity than the parallel face-to-face configuration, so it can be used as a molecular switch. The side substituent groups containing more delocalized electrons can strengthen the intermolecular coupling and raise the conductivities of bi-OPE-monothiol molecular devices. On the basis of the investigations, we find a scheme to enhance the open—close ratios of bimolecular switches.

Influence of external voltage on electronic transport properties of molecular junctions： the nonlinear transport behaviour

The influence of external voltage on the charge transport properties of benzene-1,4-dithiolate molecular junction has been investigated. Variations of the geometric and electronic structures for the molecule caused by the applied voltage are calculated at ab initio level. Based on the numerical results, we find that the energy shift and expansion coefficients in the end-site of the molecule for the frontier molecular orbitals show nearly linear dependence on voltage in the interested voltage interval. The charge transport properties of the molecular junction are then studied by employing the elastic scattering Greens function method. It is shown that the voltage has an obvious effect on the I - V characteristic of the molecular junction, particularly the shape of the conductance curves. The I - V curves are consistent with the experimental measurement quite well.

Effect of interfacial coupling on rectification in organic spin rectifiers

The effect of interfacial coupling on rectification in an organic co-oligomer spin diode is investigated theoretically by considering spin-independent and spin-resolved couplings respectively. In the case of spin-independent coupling, an optimal interfacial coupling strength with a significant enhanced rectification ratio is found, whose value depends on the structural asymmetry of the molecule. In the case of spin-resolved coupling, we found that only the variation of the interfacial coupling with specific spin is effective to modulate the rectification, which is due to the spin-filtering property of the central asymmetric magnetic molecule. A transition of the spin-current rectification between parallel spin-current rectification and antiparallel spin-current rectification may be observed with the variation of the spin-resolved interfacial coupling. The interfacial effect on rectification is further analyzed from the spin-dependent transmission spectrum at different biases.

Spin-excited states and rectification in an organic spin rectifier

Spin-excited states in an asymmetric magnetic organic co-oligomer diode are investigated theoretically. The results demonstrate that the structural asymmetry of the co-oligomer is modulated by the spin-excited states, which is embodied in the wave functions of the eigenstates as well as the spin density wave. By calculating the transport property, a robust spin-current rectification concomitant with a charge-current rectification is observed in all spin-excited states. However, the current through the diode is suppressed distinctly by the spin-excited states, while the rectification ratios may be reduced or enhanced depending on the bias and the excited spins. The intrinsic mechanism is analyzed from the spin-dependent transmission combined with the change of molecular eigenstates under bias. Finally, the temperature-induced spin excitation is simulated. Significant rectification behavior is obtained even at room temperature.

One- and two-photon absorption properties of two metalloporphyrin complexes ∗

The linear and nonlinear optical properties of two metalloporphyrin complexes formed by the complementary coordination of central zinc or magnesium ions to the ligand 5, 10, 15-tri-(p-tolyl)-20-phenylethynylporphyrin are theoretically investigated by using the analytic response theory at the density functional theory level. The results indicate that the studied complexes present more symmetric geometry structures than the ligand. The charge-transfer states of the two complexes in the lower energy region are all almost degenerate but those of the ligand are well separated. The ratio of the two-photon absorption cross sections of the ligand, zinc-porphyrin and magnesium-porphyrin complexes is 1.0:1.5:1.8, demonstrating that the two-photon absorption capability can be greatly increased when the ligand is coordinated with a metal ion. Moreover, several physical micro-mechanisms including electron transitions and intramolecular charge-transfer processes are discussed to explore the differences in optical property between the ligand and two complexes.

Carrier–envelope phase effects for a dipolar molecule interacting with ultrashort laser pulse

In this paper the phase-dependent features of ultrashort laser pulse resonant propagation in a two-level dipolar molecule are demonstrated by solving full Maxwell–Bloch equations. The electronic properties of dipolar molecule 4-trans-[p-(N, N-Di-n-butylamino)-p -stilbenylvinyl] pyridine (DBASVP) molecule, one-dimensional asymmetric organic molecule, is calculated by density functional theory at ab initio level. The numerical results show that the carrier propagation and the spectrum evolution of the pulse are sensitive to its initial phase and the phase sensitivity is more obvious for larger area pulse. The phase-dependent feature is more evident in dipolar molecule because the permanent dipole moment makes the nonlinear effects stronger.

Solvent effects on optical properties of a newly synthesized two-photon polymerization initiator: BPYPA

Time-dependent hybrid density functional theory in combination with polarized continuum model is applied to study the solvent effects on the geometrical and electronic structures as well as one- and two-photon absorption processes, of a newly synthesized asymmetrical charge-transfer organic molecule bis-(4-bromo-phenyl)-[4-(2-pyridin-4-yl-vinyl)-phenyl]-amine (BPYPA). There exist two charge-transfer states for the compound in visible region. The two-photon absorption cross section calculated by a three-state model and solvatochromic shift of the charge-transfer states are found to be solvent-dependent, where a nonmonotonic behaviour with respect to the polarity of the solvents is observed. The numerical results show that the organic molecule exhibits a rather large two-photon absorption cross section as compared with the compound 4-trans-[p-(N, N-Di-n-butylamino)-p-stilbenyl vinyl] pyridine (DBASVP) reported previously and is predicted to be a good two-photon polymerization initiator. The hydrogen-bond effect is analysed. The computational results are in good agreement with the measurements.

The theoretical studies on the two-photon absorption properties of symmetric 1,4-bis{2-[4-(2-aryl)phenyl]vinyl}-2,5-bisdialkoxybenzenes

On the level of the time-dependent hybrid density functional theory, the one- and two-photon absorption properties of a series of symmetric 4-bis{2-[4-(2-aryl) phenyl]vinyl}-2,5-bisdialkoxybenzenes are studied respectively utilizing the analytic response theory and the few-state model methods. The calculated results show that the planarity of the geometrical structure plays a great role in enhancing the linear and nonlinear optical abilities of the molecule. However the effect of the length of the chain linked to the π-centre on the optical property is very little. For the investigated compounds, the A-π-A type charge-transfer molecules display more superior one- and two-photon absorption characteristics than the D-π-D type ones. Furthermore, the two-photon absorption results by use of few-state model are generally consistent with those by analytic response theory, demonstrating the reliability of the few-state model for evaluating the two-photon absorption cross section. The numerical simulations are in good agreement in tendency with the available experimental measurements.