Rectifiers are commonly known as diodes.They can convert alternating current into direct current, necessary for information management. Silicon-based integrated circuits have been used in electronic devices. But when reducing the size of these devices, these chips face some major limitations. For example, when the oxide layers reach a thickness of three atoms, they become poorly insulating and lead to charge leakage. Alternative approaches must be used when synthesizing smaller chips in order to minimize these limitations. Molecular rectification was first proposed by Aviram and Ratner, using hypothetical organic molecule consists of an electron donor moiety and an acceptor moiety which are effectively separated by the use of a sigma bridge between the donor and the acceptor subunits. The electron current is expected to pass in the system only in one direction: cathode, acceptor, donor, and finally anode. There are three possible mechanisms for molecular rectification, namely Schottky, asymmetric, and unimolecular. Asymmetric and unimolecular mechanisms are based on the HOMO and LUMO gaps of the electron-donor and the electron-acceptor moieties. Rectification takes place if the respective energies of the frontier highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (MOs) are energetically close to the Fermi levels of the electrodes. Our group has successfully developed few nanoscale molecular rectifiers based on asymmetric five-coordinate iron(III) complexes. This enabled us to conclude that rectification proceeds <i>via</i> singly-occupied molecular orbitals (SOMOs) of the metal. Therefore, the spatial and energetic modulation of the SOMO orbital is an essential step towards the design of diode-like molecules with rectifying properties. With that aim in mind we have synthesized and studied the redox/electronic properties of a new bimetallic iron(III) hydrophobe that shows current rectification.

Towards current rectification: nanoscale electronic devices based on Langmuir-Blodgett films of phenolate-based homobimetallic iron(III) complex

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.