Unimolecular n-bit memory and molecular wire with variable resistivities: Proposal of new molecular design and prototype construction

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H03790
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Functional solid state chemistry
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Takanori Suzuki 北海道大学, 理学研究院, 教授 (70202132)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 上遠野 亮 北海道大学, 理学研究院, 助教 (60432142) ; 藤原 憲秀 秋田大学, 理工学研究科, 教授 (20222268)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 酸化還元 / 分子素子 / 分子メモリ / 構造有機化学 / 物理有機化学 / 電子移動 / 動的酸化還元 / 構造変化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The dynamic redox (dyrex) systems undergo reversible bond formation/cleavage upon electron transfer. This characteristic feature provides those redox systems with electrochemical bistability, by which oxidation of the donor and reduction of the cationic species occur at difference potentials. Such separation prevents the exchange of electrons between the neutral state and the cationic state, whereas the activation energy for the corresponding process in ordinary redox pairs is negligible. Thus, bistability in dynamic redox pairs can lead to their use in unimolecular memory because one molecule can be considered to be one digit if the two redox states are assigned values of 0 and 1 (e.g., the neutral donor is 0 and the cationic state is 1). We have developed several promising dyrex systems in this work, which would be used as prototypes for developing advanced molecular memory unit.

Free Research Field

有機化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現代社会では、ほぼすべての情報蓄積が電子記録媒体に為され、また保存すべき情報量は日々増大している。現存の半導体技術の下でも、記録媒体容量の増大達成の努力が続けられているが、将来の革新的な技術開発によるブレークスルーを実現が必要である。本研究は、化学の世界で扱える最小の単位である分子を、1ビット（0/1）と定義する単一分子メモリを提案し、その目的に供する重要な候補となる物質群の開発を行った。