Speaker: Ayelet Vilan, Weizmann Institute of Science

Time: 20:00-21:30 p.m., September 8, 2023, GMT+8

Venue: Scan the QR code to watch online

Abstract:

Our digital era is dominated by information coded using (mostly) current of electrons through inorganic, crystalline materials. Biology on the other hand, encodes information via electrostatic potential across molecular membranes. The magnitude of molecular electrostatic potential is unprecedented in standard inorganic electronic materials. For example, aligning a moderate molecular dipole in an array, as in self-assembled monolayer, is equivalent to a giant electric field (∼1 GV/m) that will lead of dielectric break down of most inorganic (oxides) insulators. Research on molecular electronics mainly follows the first approach, exploring the sensitivity of current to the quantized nature of molecules. I would like to suggest a complementary perspective, which is focused on elucidating and manipulating the potential profile along the current path. My talk will overview various electrostatic aspects of molecular monolayers, from modifiers of potential barrier between bulk materials, via charge-balance at organic / inorganic interface and up to deducing potential profiles from analysis of experimentally-measured current-voltage curves. These concepts could find relevance to diverse fields from renewable energy materials to bio-sensors.

Biography:

Dr. Ayelet Vilan studies molecular electronics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Israel. Her Ph.D. thesis (Materials and Interfaces department at the Weizmann Institute of Science, 2002) explores dipolar monolayers at the Au/GaAs surface. After a post-doctoral study at Philips Research (Eindhoven), she returned to the Weizmann institute in 2005. She worked as a visiting scientist in Texas A&M (2013-4). Her research interests encompass self-assembled monolayers, construction of molecular junctions and chemical and physical surface characterization. She focuses on the development of empirical tools for the interpretation and the quantification of charge transport across molecular junctions, in either single molecule or monolayer configurations.

Source: iCANX