Abstract
We study the vulnerability of single-molecule nanowires against a temporary disconnection of the junction. To this end, we compare the room and low-temperature junction formation trajectories along the opening and closing of gold–4,4′-bipyridine–gold single-molecule nanowires. In the low-temperature measurements, the cross-correlations between the opening and subsequent closing conductance traces demonstrate a strong structural memory effect: around half of the molecular opening traces exhibit similar, statistically dependent molecular features as the junction is closed again. This means that the junction stays rigid and the molecule remains protruding from one electrode even after the rupture of the junction, and therefore, the same single-molecule junction can be reestablished if the electrodes are closed again. In the room-temperature measurements, however, weak opening–closing correlations are found, indicating a significant rearrangement of the junction after the rupture and the related loss of structural memory effects.
Highlights
We study the vulnerability of single-molecule nanowires against a temporary disconnection of the junction
We investigate the self-protection of singlemolecule junctions against environmental perturbations by studying the structural memory effects of gold−4,4′-bipyridine (BP)−gold single-molecule structures
At a smaller electrode separation, the molecule binds on the side of the metallic junction, such that both the nitrogen linker and the aromatic ring are electronically coupled to the metal electrode (HighG configuration)
Summary
We study the vulnerability of single-molecule nanowires against a temporary disconnection of the junction. The low-temperature closing histogram (red line in Figure 1D) exhibits a peak somewhat above the conductance of the LowG configuration along the opening process, and a shoulder somewhat above the conductance of the opening HighG
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