Molecular Transport Junctions Created By Self-Contacting Gapped Nanowires

A study was conducted to demonstrate that molecular transport Junctions (MTJs) can be fabricated by bringing segments of nanowires into contact via capillary forces, taking advantage of capillary force and van der Waals. Ag was thermally evaporated onto the back of an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. The silver-coated alumina template was placed (silver side down) in an electrochemical cell containing a Pt counter electrode and an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. After the electrodeposition of the segmented nanowires was completed, the template was placed in concentrated nitric acid for 15 min to remove the silver backing layer, and then rinsed with water and placed in a 3 M sodium hydroxide solution for 2 h to dissolve the AAO template. The nanowires were repeatedly rinsed with distilled water until the pH of the rinsing solution remained at 7. The surfaces of the nanowires released from the glass slides were passivated with 1-dodecanethiol. This method may become a widely adopted and convenient technique for preparing MTJs bridged with molecules, especially for the analysis of those moieties below 2 nm in length.