Simen Presents a Poster at ICMM2021

Simen Sopp presented a poster titled "Exceptionally Clean Single-Electron Transistors from Solutions of Pleio-Soluble Molecular Graphene Nanoribbons" at the ICMM2021 in Manchester 14-18 2021.

 

Abstract:

Only single-electron-transistors with a certain level of cleanliness, where all states can be properly accessed, can be used for quantum experiments. Carbon-nanotubes have revealed their vibrational, spin and quantum coherence properties only after being suspended across trenches. [1,2] Such clean devices remain unachieved for graphene nanostructures: molecular graphene nanoribbons [3,4] provide the necessary structural control, but suffer from poor solubility, similar to carbon-nanotubes. Here we show how the chemical functionalization of nanoribbons enormously enhances the solubility, and suppress bundling to yield extremely sharp single-electron features, typical of ultra-clean transport devices, but achieved directly from solution and without suspension. Franck-Condon blockade is clearly visible, and very strong electron-vibron coupling is identified with transverse bending modes. These results open the path to the investigation of ultra-clean electronic devices made of atomically-precise graphene elements, thus allowing electronic access to their spin, vibrational and topological effects.

[1] Cao, J., Wang, Q. & Dai, H. Electron transport in very clean, as-grown suspended carbon nanotubes. Nature Mater. 4, 745–749 (2005).

[2] Jarillo-Herrero, P., Sapmaz, S., Dekker, C., Kouwenhoven, L. P. & van der Zant, H. S. Electron–hole symmetry in a semiconducting carbon nanotube quantum dot. Nature 429, 389–392 (2004).

[3] Cai, J. et al. Atomically precise bottom-up fabrication of graphene nanoribbons. Nature 466, 470-473 (2010).

[4] Narita, A., Wang, X.-Y., Feng, X. & Müllen, K. New advances in nanographene chemistry. Chem. Soc. Rev. 44, 6616-6643 (2015).