Single Molecule-Based Electronic Devices: A Review

Abstract

In the face of the fact that the development of traditional silicon-based electronic devices is increasingly limited, single molecule electronic device, which has been attracting more and more attention, is considered as one of the most hopeful candidates to realize the miniaturization of conventional electronic devices. In this paper, an overview of single molecule electronic devices is provided, including molecular electronic devices and electrode types. First, several molecular electronic devices are presented, including molecular diodes, molecular memories, molecular wires, molecular field effect transistors (FET) and molecular switches. Then the influence of different electrode types of the transport characteristics is introduced, showing that graphene is a promising electrode material for single molecule electronic devices. Moreover, other excellent characteristics of molecular devices are briefly introduced, such as potential thermoelectric effects, new thermally induced spin transport phenomena and negative differential resistance (NDR) behavior. Finally, the future challenges to the development of electronic devices based on single molecules are described.