Identification of vibrational signatures from short chains of interlinked moleculenanoparticle junctions obtained by inelastic electron tunnelling spectroscopyElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Methods and materials. Details of the ab initio calculation of molecular vibrations and inelastic spectra of ODT between two Au electrodes. A model of carrier transport through the molecular junctions. See DOI: 10.1039/c3nr00505d

• Main Authors: Jafri, S. H. M, Lfs, H, Fransson, J, Blom, T, Grigoriev, A, Wallner, A, Ahuja, R, Ottosson, H, Leifer, K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c3nr00505d

Short chains containing a series of metalmoleculenanoparticle 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 moleculenanoparticle (NP) chains containing typically 57 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 moleculeAuNP multi-junction by placing a few 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT) molecules onto a versatile and portable nanoparticlenanoelectrode platform and measured for the first time vibrational molecular signatures at complex and coupled few-moleculeNP 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. Vibrational signatures from few moleculenanoparticlenanoelectrode junctions were identified using inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy together with quantum transport calculations.