Speaker
Description
Metal-molecule-metal junctions are attractive for many applications such as energy harvesting and sensing and a wide variety of techniques have been developed for their creation and electrical characterization.
In particular vibrational spectroscopy of metal-molecule-metal junctions is desirable simply because it shows whether the molecule remains intact and whether any new vibrational modes in the spectrum indicate actual bond formation between a functional group and a metal layer. Moreover, in the context of molecular electronics, it permits detecting the effect of an applied electric field on the molecular structure or any coupling between electronic transport in the junction and vibrational modes.
Vibrational spectroscpy is however much less advanced due to the combined challenges of detecting a small signal whilst forming an intact sandwich system. In this talk I will show that even nonideal surfaces such as roughened gold or gold nanopartcles can be used to detect partial layer metallization by Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for the example of 4-mercaptopyridine, 4-4'-bipyridine and pyridyl-dithiocarbamates. I will also address to which degree SERS can be used to detect adsorbate charge transfer resonances, in particular on nonideal surfaces.
In the final part of the talk I will give an example of how to generate impact from even very fundamental research and explain what links rose petals, thread seal tape and CF16 gaskets.
