Nanotechnology researchers are working on the ultimate electronic miniaturization: replacing silicon-based field-effect transistors (FETs) with individual organic molecules. It is difficult, however, to integrate single molecules into circuits using metal electrodes: the metal–molecule interface is usually quite resistive and can screen applied electrical fields, yielding a device with low levels of current in its ‘on’ state and poor ‘on/off’ current switching.

Jing Lu and co-workers from Peking University in China, in collaboration with colleagues at the Institute for Molecular Science in Japan and the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the USA, have now used sophisticated theoretical simulations to devise a way to connect single molecules to organic FETs. By replacing metal electrodes with conductive carbon nanotubes, the researchers have designed devices with excellent on-state current and on/off current ratios, making this approach a promising way to construct future high-performance nanoscale devices.

The above work is published in J. Phys. Chem. C 114, 15816 (2010) and highlighted by Nature Asia Materials（doi:10.1038/asiamat.2011.5）.