Nanowires, the future of electronics

The current demand for small-sized electronic devices is calling for fresh approaches in their design. The research led by Aurelio Mateo-Alonso (Ikerbasque researcher at POLYMAT, the Basque Excellence Research Center (BERC), a partner of the UPV/EHU) into nanowires is being published today in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Communications.

A group of researchers at the Basque Excellence Research Center into Polymers (POLYMAT), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), the University of Barcelona, the Institute of Bioengineering of Barcelona (IBEC), and the University of Aveiro, and led by Aurelio Mateo-Alonso, the Ikerbasque research professor at POLYMAT, have developed a new suite of molecular wires or nanowires that are opening up new horizons in molecular electronics. The research is being published today in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.

The growing demand for increasingly smaller electronic devices is prompting the need to produce circuits whose components are also as small as possible, and this is calling for fresh approaches in their design.

Molecular electronics has sparked great interest because the manufacture of electronic circuits using molecules would entail a reduction in their size. Nanowires are conducting wires on a molecular scale that carry the current inside these circuits. That is why the efficiency of these wires is crucially important.

In fact, one of the main novelties in this new suite of nanowires developed by the group led by Aurelio Mateo lies in their high efficiency, which constitutes a step forward in miniaturizing electronic circuits.

More information:
Marco Carini et al. High conductance values in π-folded molecular junctions, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS15195

Provided by University of the Basque Country