{"id":650842,"date":"2025-05-03T19:02:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T23:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=650842"},"modified":"2025-05-05T11:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:11:56","slug":"new-electronically-conductive-organic-molecule-650842","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/new-electronically-conductive-organic-molecule-650842\/","title":{"rendered":"New molecule could pave the way for more efficient computers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team of scientists has developed the \u201cworld\u2019s most electrically conductive organic molecule,\u201d which could revolutionize electronic materials for computer chips.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A research team that includes a scientist from the University of Rochester<\/a> says it has uncovered what it believes is \u201cthe world\u2019s most electrically conductive organic molecule.\u201d The discovery opens new possibilities for building smaller and more powerful and energy efficient computing devices.<\/p>\n

In a paper<\/a> published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society<\/em>, the researchers, including Ignacio Franco<\/a>, a professor of chemistry<\/a> and of physics<\/a> at Rochester, unveiled a new type of molecule that can carry electrical current over record-breaking distances without losing efficiency. The molecule, which is composed of chemical elements found in nature, including carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen, could allow computer chip manufacturers to eliminate their reliance on silicon and metal as conductors.<\/p>\n

\u201cMolecules are nature\u2019s tiniest, mightiest, and most configurable building blocks and can be engineered to build ultra-compact, ultra-efficient technology for everything from computers to quantum devices,\u201d Franco says.<\/p>\n

Using molecular materials in electronic chips offers several advantages. They consume less power. They can be more easily customized than silicon. They are more environmentally friendly. And, perhaps most importantly to manufacturers, they are potentially cheaper to produce.<\/p>\n

But, until now, finding the ideal chemical makeup for a molecule such as this has stumped scientists. There had previously been no molecular material that would allow electrons to move through it without significantly losing efficiency. Typically, the longer a molecule is\u2014meaning the more atoms it has lined up, like links in a chain\u2014the worse it is at carrying electricity.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration
A molecular wire bridges the gap between two metallic electrodes and forms a molecular junction that conducts electricity. The new molecule developed by researchers carries electrical current without losing efficiency. It does so via electron spins at each end of the molecule (the arrows) that \u201ctalk\u201d over record-setting distances. (University of Miami illustration \/ Shaocheng Shen)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis work is the first demonstration that organic molecules can allow electrons to migrate across it ballistically without any energy loss over several tens of nanometers, a completely quantum mechanically dictated phenomena,\u201d says Kun Wang<\/a> at the University of Miami, who co-led the experimental efforts of the research along with Jason Azoulay at Georgia Institute of Technology.<\/p>\n

The team demonstrated these capabilities by studying their new molecules under a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Using a technique called STM break junction, the team was able to capture a single molecule and measure its conductance\u2014how easily electricity flows through a specific object.<\/p>\n

Franco and his colleagues Mehrdad Shiri at the University of Miami and Leopoldo Mej\u00eda at the Universidad Andr\u00e9s Bello unveiled the physical mechanisms behind these unprecedented molecular capabilities through atomistically detailed computations of the electron transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese amazing molecules have unpaired electron spins at each end of the molecule that \u2018talk\u2019 to one another and enable near-perfect electrical conductance over record-setting distances,\u201d Franco says.<\/p>\n

Isolated spins or radicals are usually very reactive, but the team\u2019s chemical design makes the radicals stable even in air under room-temperature conditions. This could open opportunities to revolutionize molecule-based quantum information science and the way information is transferred, processed, and stored in future computing systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis molecular design overcomes many of the big issues that for decades have prevented the use of molecules in electronics,\u201d says Franco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team of scientists has developed the \u201cworld\u2019s most electrically conductive organic molecule.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":650942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[19862,18662,29732,17762,18572,16072],"class_list":["post-650842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-department-of-chemistry","tag-department-of-physics-and-astronomy","tag-ignacio-franco","tag-quantum-science","tag-research-finding","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew molecule could pave the way for more efficient computers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A team of scientists, including from the University of Rochester, has developed the \u201cworld\u2019s most electrically conductive organic molecule.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta 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