Electron transfer is one of the most fundamental processes in many important systems with relevance to areas such as biology, solar energy conversion, from respiration to photosynthesis, molecular electronics, electrochemistry, catalysis, and information storage. Therefore, understanding interfacial electron transfer between molecules and electrodes, and their dynamics at the molecular level, is important for fundamental science as well as for technological applications. However, the most of the present knowledge of interfacial electron transfer between molecules and electrodes mainly relies on ensemble averaged spectroscopic and electrochemical measurements. Thus, our understanding of the interfacial electron transfer dynamics at the molecular level is very limited. The ability to measure and to control charge transport at the molecular level represents a key step towards the understanding of local structure, electronic conductance, and electrochemical charge transfer in active nanometer-scale molecular systems at well-defined solid|liquid interfaces.
Among various experimental approaches, single-molecule junctions formed in a metal-substrate|molecule|STM-tip configuration has contributed significantly to the fundamental understanding of the principles required to realize molecular-scale electronic components, switches, transducers and sensors. In this talk we will discusse the interfacial and electronic properties of molecular systems sandwiched between two electrodes at the molecular scale in a metal-substrate|molecule|STM-tip configuration.
