Volume 8 Issue 6, June 2013

The field of molecular electronics has been around for more than 40 years, but only recently have some fundamental problems been overcome. It is now time for researchers to move beyond simple descriptions of charge transport and explore the numerous intrinsic features of molecules.

Inexpensive, functional and atomically precise molecules could be the basis of future electronic devices, but integrating them into circuits will require the development of new ways to control the interface between molecules and electrodes.

Leading researchers in molecular electronics discuss the motivation behind their work and what they consider to be the grand challenges for the field.

Voltage-controlled traps can halt the motion of fast magnetic domain walls in nanowires.

Spontaneously formed natural nanostructures are responsible for a glass-like thermal conductivity in a perfectly crystalline semiconductor.

Microcavity polaritons can be used to create optical switches, which could serve as the basic component of optical logic circuits.

Experiments with triple quantum dot devices show that distant qubits can be directly coupled and suggest a potential route to the development of fast, complex quantum circuits.

Unimolecular block copolymer micelles can be used as a template to synthesize nanoparticles with a diverse range of sizes, compositions and architectures.

This Review describes emerging techniques for characterizing the fundamental properties of molecular junctions besides electronic transport.

A voltage can be used to control traps with pinning strengths exceeding 650 Oe that affect domain wall motion in ultrathin metallic ferromagnets.

A single electron pump made entirely from graphene that performs at frequencies up to several gigahertz is now realized.

A simple procedure allows for the fabrication of highly conducting and highly flexible nanostructured electrodes.

Star-shaped block-copolymers are used as a template in a general synthetic protocol for the formation of colloidal nanocrystals with desired compositions and architectures.

The charge states in distant quantum dots can be coupled through an intermediate state in a third quantum dot.

An exchange bias phenomenon not present in bulk ferromagnetic systems is now observed at the Fe/MgO interface.

The very low thermal conductivity in AgSbTe₂ is due to spontaneously formed nanostructures.

DNA molecules can be sequenced by monitoring the electrical conductance of a phi29 DNA polymerase as it incorporates unlabelled nucleotides into a template strand of DNA.

Specially designed DNA nanodevices that enter the same cell through two different pathways can independently map pH gradients simultaneously inside distinct cellular compartments along both pathways.

Since the early 1970s, researchers have looked to use individual molecules as functional building blocks in electronic circuits, but the field of molecular electronics has been hampered by significant experimental challenges and practical devices have remained elusive. Recent improvements in the study of single-molecule junctions have, however, led to the discovery of a variety of novel effects, which could have an impact on a range of applications. This focus issue examines the challenges and opportunities for the field.