Electrical switching effect in a photochromic molecule between two graphene electrodes

Publication date: Available online 11 December 2019Source: Physics Letters AAuthor(s): Feng-Xia Zu, Fu-Chun Zhang, Dong Wang, Yun Ni, Shu-Ling Wang, Chun-Ling Ding, Guo-ying GaoAbstractWe propose a single-molecule electrical switches consisting of a photochromic dimethyldihydropyrene/cyclophanediene molecule sandwiched between two graphene electrodes and investigate the electronic transport by using density-functional theory and nonequilibrium Green's function methods. The “open” and “closed” isomers of the photochromic molecule are shown to have electrical switching behavior and negative differential resistance effect. Moreover, it is also found that the switching ratio between two different conductive states depends on the ambient temperature, and the device behaves as a stable electrical switch around room temperature, which is in agreement with a recent experimental study of another photochromic molecule diarylethene reported by Jia et al. (2016) [17].

Source: Physics Letters A - December 13, 2019 Category: Physics Source Type: research