Protonation-Independent Charge Transport Across Diphenylamine Single-Molecule Junctions.

ABSTRACT: Amines are one of the most ubiquitous functional groups in molecular junctions; however, the exact regulation of the charge transport through the protonation state of an amine group in the junction backbone remains elusive. We address this question here by designing a diphenylamine molecular backbone and experimentally investigating how protonation of the central amine group affects the charge transport. Our ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy measurements demonstrate the protonation reaction of the diphenylamine compound in the presence of either trifluoroacetic acid or HCl, and we observe a consistent trend of a modestly increased conductance for diphenylamine in the presence of acid, indicating that a protonated amine group in a diphenylamine backbone slightly enhances the electron conduct

SUBMITTER: Cheng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11808790 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature