Molecular electronics

Our interest in this field started in Leiden in the group of J.M. van Ruitenbeek.

In collaboration with Marc van Hemert of the Leiden Institute for Chemistry and Norton Lang of the IBM Research labs at Yorktown Heights we showed that it is possible to attach electrical contacts to a single hydrogen molecule. The molecule, coupled to two platinum wires, turns out to form a nearly perfect conductor with a conductance close to the quantum unit 2e²/h. Hydrogen is the simplest and smallest molecule, thus the research forms a fundamental step towards the development of electronic circuits based on organic molecules. The work was published in the 31 October issue of Nature 419, 906 (2002).

Now, in the universidad de Alicante we are interested to understand in depth the fact of the electrical conduction of the hydrogen molecule. How is the connection of the molecule to the electrodes, how determinant is the composition of the electrodes,....

We are also interested to extend these studies to other molecules exploding the possibility of having molecules of a certain functionality.

In this area we continue in close colaboration with the group of J.M. van Ruitenbeek.

Selected publications

Measurement of the conductance of a hydrogen molecule. R.H.M. Smit, Y. Noat, C. Untiedt, N.D. Land, M.C. Van Hemert, and & J.M. Van Ruitenbeek. Nature 419, 906 - 909 (2002)