Unraveling intricate interactions, 1 molecule at a time - In a key step towards the design of better organic electronic devices, a Columbia Engineering team has succeeded in performing the first quantitative characterization of van der Waals interactions at metal/organic interfaces at the single-molecule level. In a study published Aug. 12 in Nature Materials, the researchers reveal the existence of two distinct binding regimes in gold-molecule-gold single-molecule junctions, using molecules containing nitrogen atoms at their extremities that are attracted to gold surfaces.(10.1073/pnas.1113256108)

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