Electrochemical Control of Charge Current Flow in Nanoporous Graphene

During the last decade, on-surface fabricated graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have gathered enormous attention due to their semiconducting π-conjugated nature and atomically precise structure. A significant breakthrough is recent fabrication of nanoporous (NPG) as a 2D array laterally bonded GNRs. This covalent integration GNRs could enable complex electronic functionality at nanoscale; however, for that, it crucial externally control coupling between within NPGs, which, date, has not been possible. Using quantum chemical calculations large-scale transport simulations, this study demonstrates that such enabled in newly designed quinone-NPG (q-NPG) thanks its inter-connections based on electroactive para-benzoquinone units. As result, spatial distribution injected currents q-NPG may be tuned, with sub-nanometer precision, via application external electrostatic gates electrochemical means. These results thus provide fundamental strategy design organic nanodevices built-in tunable electronics spintronics, which key future applications bio-chemical nanosensing carbon nanoelectronics.