Curcuminoid-based materials toward their use as active components in two and three-terminal devices

Abstract

Molecular electronics (MEs), which is based on the use of a single molecule or an assembly of them, as active components in electronic circuits, has emerged as an alternative to the limitations (e.g.: miniaturization) of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, currently used in chip processing. Following this motivation, in this doctoral thesis we focus on the design and evaluation of a specific family of molecules, named curcuminoids (CCMoids), as molecular wires to be tested in two- and three- terminal devices. _x000D_ Specifically, we have examined the electronic performance of a ferrocene-based CCMoid in a vertically configured two-terminal device. The overall system consists of a gold bottom electrode functionalized with a monolayer of cyclodextrin or cucurbituril molecules hosting the CCMoid molecules (guests) to end with an eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) electrode at the top that completes the device._x000D_ Additionally, we have synthesized a variety of CCMoids with different terminal substituents that could promote, in further reactions, extended CCMoid structures. We have explored the conductance in a single molecule regime, of an enlarged CCMoid containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) lateral anchoring groups. Such molecules have been deposited in a three-terminal device, which comprises two nanogapped graphene source and drain electrodes separated from the Si gate electrode by a SiO2 layer. In this way, the terminal PAH moiety can interact by [Pi]-[Pi] stacking with the graphene electrodes, creating a graphene-CCMoid-graphene junction._x000D_ Finally, in order to create a more robust device, from a molecule-electrodes contact point of view, we have started the synthetic modifications in the CCMoid backbone for the introduction of a reactive silane group to fix the CCMoid on the SiO2 layer of three-terminal devices.

Date of Award	16 Feb 2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Arantzazu Gonzalez Campo (Director) & Nuria Aliaga Alcalde (Director)