The recently measured quantum interference effects in single molecules at room temperature can bring to develop low-cost ultra-thin-film thermoelectric devices with an unprecedented efficiency to either energy generation from waste heat or cooling at the nanoscale. Such devices would be designed as heterostructures based on massively-parallel arrays of molecules between 2D materials as electrodes. To begin with, the transport features of the molecules must be engineered and determined. By the use of a home-built STM, performing the technique STM – Break Junction, both the conductance and the thermopower can be measured simultaneously for each single-molecule junction at ambient conditions. Two different studies have been carried out; about the improvement of the organic molecules transport properties by adding metallic atoms and the development of molecules with mechanically tunable transport properties due to the quantum interference effects.

Pablo Bastante

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid