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Electroluminescence from a single nanotube–molecule–nanotube junction

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 863–867 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

The positioning of single molecules between nanoscale electrodes1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 has allowed their use as functional units in electronic devices. Although the electrical transport in such devices has been widely explored, optical measurements have been restricted to the observation of electroluminescence from nanocrystals and nanoclusters9,10 and from molecules in a scanning tunnelling microscope setup11,12. In this Letter, we report the observation of electroluminescence from the core of a rod-like molecule between two metallic single-walled carbon nanotube electrodes forming a rigid solid-state device. We also develop a simple model to explain the onset voltage for electroluminescence. These results suggest new characterization and functional possibilities, and demonstrate the potential of carbon nanotubes for use in molecular electronics.

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Figure 1: Chemical structure of the molecule and formation of the NT–M–NT device.
Figure 2: Image of a nanogap and the parameters controlling its dimensions and transport characteristics.
Figure 3: Energy-level model, PL and EL spectra, and light emission from a biased NT–M–NT junction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge helpful discussions with E. Dormann, M. Hettler and F. Evers, technical support by M. Fischer, and the help of C. Grupe with the graphics of the NT–M–NT junction. The ongoing support of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and of the University of Basel is gratefully acknowledged. The research was funded by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (VH-NG-126), an equipment grant from Agilent Technologies, the NCCR Nanoscience and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Nanotechnologie, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, 76021, Germany

    Christoph W. Marquardt, Alfred Błaszczyk, Simone Dehm, Frank Hennrich, Marcel Mayor & Ralph Krupke

  2. Physikalisches Institut, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, 76049, Germany

    Christoph W. Marquardt & Hilbert v. Löhneysen

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, Basel, CH-4056, Switzerland

    Sergio Grunder & Marcel Mayor

  4. Department of Commodity Science, Poznan University of Economics, Al. Niepodleglości 10, Poznań, 61-875, Poland

    Alfred Błaszczyk

  5. Institut für Festkörperphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, 76021, Germany

    Hilbert v. Löhneysen

  6. DFG Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe, 76049, Germany

    Hilbert v. Löhneysen, Marcel Mayor & Ralph Krupke

Authors
  1. Christoph W. Marquardt
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  2. Sergio Grunder
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  3. Alfred Błaszczyk
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  4. Simone Dehm
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  6. Hilbert v. Löhneysen
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  7. Marcel Mayor
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  8. Ralph Krupke
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Contributions

M.M. and R.K. conceived and designed the experiments. S.G. and A.B. synthesized the molecules. F.H. synthesized the nanotube dispersion. S.D. prepared the electrode array and C.M. performed device assembly and measurements. M.M., R.K., C.M. and H.v.L. co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Marcel Mayor or Ralph Krupke.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Marquardt, C., Grunder, S., Błaszczyk, A. et al. Electroluminescence from a single nanotube–molecule–nanotube junction. Nature Nanotech 5, 863–867 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.230

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