The Role of Polarizability in Charge Transport Across (Bio)Molecular Tunneling Junctions

The electron transport rates across biomolecular junctions can be remarkably, but the mechanisms behind this are still under debate.[1,2] Unraveling the underlying mechanisms of ET across such systems is not only interesting from a fundamental point of view, but could also lead to interesting technological applications in biomolecule-based sensors or biomolecular electronics.[3,4] We have been studying the role of polarizability in the mechanism of ET across molecular junctions and found that ET rates can increase by 4 orders of magnitude by changing the polarizability of just one atom in molecular junctions [5]. I will present our latest findings on ET rates across junctions with varying degrees of polarizability and how polarizable atoms can change the energy level alignment the junction [6] and the temperature dependency of the mechanism of ET [7] across small molecules and huge biomolecular cages with cargo (encapsuling) [8].<br/><br/><b>References</b><br/>1. D. Cahen, I. Pecht, M. Sheves <i>J. Phys. Chem. Lett.</i> <b>2021</b>, <i>12</i>, 11598.<br/>2. G. Jutz, P. V. Rijn, B. S. Miranda , A. Boker, <i>Chem. </i><i>Rev.</i> <b>2015</b>, <i>115</i>, 1653.<br/>3. R. Nandi, Y. Agam, N. Amdursky <i>Adv. Mater.</i> <b>2021</b>, <i>33</i>, 2101208.<br/>4. Kumar, K.S.; Pasula, R. R.; Lim, S.; Nijhuis, C. A,<i> Adv. Mater.</i> <b>2016</b>, <i>28</i>, 182.<br/>5. Du, W.; Chen, X.; Wang, T.; Lin, Q.; Nijhuis, C.A.<i> JACS</i>. Accepted.<br/>6. Chen, X.; Volkova, I.; Wang, Y.; Zhang, Z.; Nijhuis, C.A. <i>Submitted</i>.<br/>7. Zinelli, R/; Soni, S.; Cornelissen, J. L. M.; Michel-Souzy, S.; Nijhuis, C. A. <i>Biomolecules <b>2023</b>, 13, 174</i><i>.</i>