One of the dreams of physicists today is being able to
harvest electricity back from dissipated heat. The key to this
probably resides in circuits that contain single molecules. Instead
of being limited to classical conductance, the thermopower can be
enhanced dramatically by the properties of quantum states. But
then, what quantum states offer good efficiency? What
characteristics are desirable? Theory often offers contrasting
predictions. Unfortunately, experiments have also not yet provided
any proof, since they are notoriously difficult to set up. But now,
researchers at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in
collaboration with UC Louvain, University of Oxford, Northwestern
University and Heriot-Watt University have done just that. They
experimentally probed the gate and bias dependent thermoelectric
properties of a single molecule for the very first time. The
results have been published in Nature Nanotechnology.
Researchers probe the ‘full’ thermoelectric properties of a
single molecule
