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We have combined molecular dynamics simulations with first-principles calculations to study electron transport in a single molecular junction of perylene tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) in aqueous solution under external electric gate fields. It is found that the statistics of the molecular conductance are very sensitive to the strength of the electric field. The statistics of the molecular conductance are strongly associated with the thermal fluctuation of the water molecules around the PTCDI molecule. Our simulations reproduce the experimentally observed three orders of magnitude enhancement of the conductance, as well as the temperature dependent conductance, under the electrochemical gates. The effects of the molecular polarization and the dipole rearrangement of the aqueous solution are also discussed.
We have combined molecular dynamics simulations with first-principles calculations to study electron transport in a single molecular junction of perylene tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) in aqueous solution under external electric gate fields. It is found that the statistics of the molecular conductance are very sensitive to the strength of the electric field. The statistics of the molecular conductance are strongly associated with the thermal fluctuation of the water molecules around the PTCDI molecule. Our simulations reproduce the experimentally observed three orders of magnitude enhancement of the conductance, as well as the temperature dependent conductance, under the electrochemical gates. The effects of the molecular polarization and the dipole rearrangement of the aqueous solution are also discussed.
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This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 20825312), and the Fok Ying Tong Education Foundation (No. 111013).
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