Unimolecular electronic molecule/metal

For now, unimolecular electronic devices must be tested with inorganic electrodes, thinned out to atomic or oligoatomic sharp tips. Molecules either singly, or in parallel as a monolayer array (one molecule thick), have been shown to be either passive or active electronic components. There are two ways to connect a molecule to an inorganic metal electrode physisorption, and chemisorption. 

In principle, molecules can be either passive or active electronic components, either singly or in parallel as a one-molecule-thick monolayer array. This may lead to electronic devices with dimensions of 1-3 nm. Unimolecular electronics (UE) or molecular electronics sensu stricto, or molecular-scale electronics evolved from studies of organic crystalline metals, superconductors, and conducting polymers the idea is to exploit the electronic energy levels of a single molecule, and most importantly its HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) and LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital), which can be tuned, or modified by incorporation of electron-donating... 

A three-sided molecule, designed to control the current pathway within it by judicious choice of three moieties with different electron affinities and/or ionization potentials, when covalently bonded to three metal electrodes 3 nm apart, could be the unimolecular equivalent of a BJT. 

Strong support for charge localization on the metal atom is provided by the reactivity of organic molecules upon their interaction with metal ions. Similarly to the unimolecular dissociation of coordinated ligands, most of these reactions result in the loss of even-electron neutrals formed via direct interaction of leaving group(s) with the metal atom. 

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