Deciphering Reaction Mechanism through Single-molecule Electronics: From electric-field catalysis to electrocatalys

ABSTRACT

The high reliability and reproducibility achieved through single-molecule electrical characterization are pivotal to single-molecule electronics research. Controllable Break Junction techniques enable the fabrication of molecular junctions thousands of times within a short timeframe; when combined with high-throughput electrical testing and data mining methods, these techniques allow for the acquisition of statistical information of single-molecule conductance, as well as insights into the evolutionary relationships between molecular structure and their corresponding changes through chemical reactions. However, traditional controllable break junction techniques still face challenges such as the difficulty in eliminating external noise interference, which hinders high system stability and data quality. By integrating "top-down" micro/nano fabrication techniques to incorporate a single-molecule-scale electrical characterization platform onto a micro/nano chip, the developed single-molecule electronics chip-based instrumentation enables long-term controlled hovering of single-molecule junctions, facilitates the stable fabrication of single-molecule electronic devices while significantly attenuating external vibrational disturbances, and thereby enables the investigation of electrocatalytic reaction mechanisms and the development of neuromorphic devices in highly ionic solution environments.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Junyang Liu, an Associate Professor and PhD Supervisor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, serve as the Talent under Fujian Province's "Chuying Program (Young Eagle Program)". His research focuses on extreme-scale single-molecule electronic device micro-nano fabrication processes, scientific instrumentation methods for their electrical and thermal characterization, as well as novel molecular electronic devices and their array integration. As the first or corresponding author (including co-authors), he has published 40 papers in journals such as Chem, J. Am. Chem. Soc. (4), Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2), Nat. Commun. (3), Sci. Adv. (2), Acc. Chem. Res., and CCS Chem.(2), and has been granted 11 patents. He now runs the project of Young Scientists Fund-Type B (the former Excellent Young Scientists Fund, EYSF) and one cultivation project from a Major Research Plan from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.