Stretching Molecules Yields New Understanding of Electricity

Technology

Stretching Molecules Yields New Understanding of Electricity

Cornell University researchers recently stretched individual molecules and watched electrons flow through them, proving that single-molecule devices can be used...

Federal News Radio Custom Media@WTOPWFEDcustom

June 17, 2010 1:20 pm

< a min read

Cornell University researchers recently stretched individual molecules and watched electrons flow through them, proving that single-molecule devices can be used as powerful new tools for nanoscale science experiments. The work resulted in the first precision tests of a phenomenon known as the under screened Kondo effect. It shows that single-molecule devices can be very useful as scientific tools to study a phenomenon that has never before been accessible.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Materials Research and presents a powerful new tool for nanoscale science experiments.

Using a cobalt-based complex cooled to extremely low temperatures, Ralph, Parks and an international team of researchers watched electrons move through single molecules and accomplished a feat that until now escaped chemists and physicists. They were able to study the resistance of the flow of electricity within a system’s electric field as the temperature approached absolute zero.