Smallest Electrical Wire Based on Extended Metal-Atom Chains

Abstract

An ideal electrical wire needs not only good conductivity for its central conductor but also a surrounding insulating layer to protect its current from leaking. We show that the extended metal-atom chain is a promising candidate to be the smallest molecular electrical wire for future practical applications. The electron can move through core metals, while the internal current is insulated from outside by the surrounding π-conjugated functional group. Moreover, we also show the existence of unavoidable hidden pathways at each site to the electrodes in a nanoscaled quantum circuit. Nevertheless, the Kirchhoff’s junction rule still holds when the current inflow and outflow arising from the additional terms of the self-energies of contacts are included.