Influence of Quantum Interference on the Thermoelectric Properties of Molecular Junctions

Influence of Quantum Interference on the Thermoelectric Properties of Molecular Junctions

Molecular junctions offer unique opportunities for controlling charge transport on the atomic scale and for studying energy conversion. For example, quantum interference effects in molecular junctions have been proposed as an avenue for highly efficient thermoelectric power conversion at room temper...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2018-09, Vol.18 (9), p.5666-5672
Main Authors: Miao, Ruijiao, Xu, Hailiang, Skripnik, Maxim, Cui, Longji, Wang, Kun, Pedersen, Kim G. L, Leijnse, Martin, Pauly, Fabian, Wärnmark, Kenneth, Meyhofer, Edgar, Reddy, Pramod, Linke, Heiner
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Annan fysik
Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
Atom- och molekylfysik och optik
Chemical Sciences
Chemistry
density functional theory
Fysik
Kemi
Materials Science
Molecular junctions
Natural Sciences
Naturvetenskap
Other Physics Topics
Physical Sciences
Physics
quantum interference
quantum transport
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Teoretisk kemi
Theoretical Chemistry
thermoelectricity
thermopower
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Summary:Molecular junctions offer unique opportunities for controlling charge transport on the atomic scale and for studying energy conversion. For example, quantum interference effects in molecular junctions have been proposed as an avenue for highly efficient thermoelectric power conversion at room temperature. Toward this goal, we investigated the effect of quantum interference on the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions. Specifically, we employed oligo­(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) derivatives with a para-connected central phenyl ring (para-OPE3) and meta-connected central ring (meta-OPE3), which both covalently bind to gold via sulfur anchoring atoms located at their ends. In agreement with predictions from ab initio modeling, our experiments on both single molecules and monolayers show that meta-OPE3 junctions, which are expected to exhibit destructive interference effects, yield a higher thermopower (with ∼20 μV/K) compared with para-OPE3 (with ∼10 μV/K). Our results show that quantum interference effects can indeed be employed to enhance the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992