Figure 2: SAMs of different molecules in a mercury drop junction
By testing a series of related molecules, we can determine the ease of tunneling across these molecules. This study helps us to understand the features that will cause a molecule have an unusual current response, such as rectification or negative differential resistance. Here, we show SAMs of carbon alkanethiols (top), aromatic alkanethiols (center), and CH2-terminated aromatic alkanethiols (bottom).