Bonding and electronic transport properties of fullerene and fullerene derivatives in break-junction geometries

Fullerenes are considered anchoring groups for molecular electronics due to a large contact area and their affinity for noble metals. The conductances of fullerene-terminated molecules, however, are found to be even lower than for thiol termination. The effects of weak molecule-metal coupling and symmetry breaking are studied by transport measurements of C60 and functionalized C60. The results demonstrate highy efficient contacts between Au and C60, despite of deposition from solution. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.