Pulling gold nanowires with a hydrogen clamp: Strong interactions of hydrogen molecules with gold nanojunctions

Abstract

In this paper an experimental study of the interaction of hydrogen molecules with gold nanowires is presented. Our results show that chains of Au atoms can also be pulled in hydrogen environment; however, in this case the conductance of the chain is strongly reduced compared to the perfect transmission of pure Au chains. The comparison of our experiments with recent theoretical prediction for the hydrogen welding of Au nanowires implies that a hydrogen molecule can even be incorporated in the gold nanocontact, and this hydrogen clamp is strong enough to pull a chain of gold atoms.