Effect of Different Metallic Electrodes on Transport Properties of a Carbon-Dimer Based Molecular Devices

Abstract

By using non-equilibrium Green's function in combination with density functional theory, we study the electronic transport properties of carbon dimer with two different anchoring atoms Se and N sandwiched between various metallic electrodes made of different metals such as Au, Ag and Pt. The electron transport of the molecular system is systematically studied by analysis of transmission function and current-voltage characteristics of the systems. The results exhibit that, depending on metallic electrodes and the anchoring groups the current varies considerably under the same bias. We find that Ag and Pt make better electrical electrodes for Se and N anchoring atom than Au. The zero-bias conductance is found to be greatest for Ag, followed by Pt than Au for Se and N anchoring atom. Thus it reveals the importance of electrodes in molecular devices.