Interference effects in phtalocyanine controlled by H-H tautomerization: Potential two-terminal unimolecular electronic switch

Journal article, 2011

We investigate the electrical transport properties of two hydrogen tautomer configurations of phthalocyanine (H(2)Pc) connected to cumulene and gold leads. Hydrogen tautomerization affects the electronic state of H(2)Pc by switching the character of molecular orbitals with the same symmetry close to the Fermi level. The near degeneracy between the HOMO and HOMO-1 leads to pronounced interference effects, causing a large change in current for the two tautomer configurations, especially in the low-bias regime. Two types of planar junctions are considered: cumulene-H(2)Pc-cumulene and gold-H(2)Pc-gold. Both demonstrate a prominent difference in molecular conductance between ON and OFF states. In addition, junctions with gold leads show pronounced negative differential resistance (NDR) at high bias voltage, as well as weak NDR at intermediate bias.