Institute of Science and Technology Austria and
Applied Physics and Chemistry,
Columbia University
We measure fundamental properties of single molecule devices, seeking to understand the interplay of
physics, chemistry and engineering at the nanometer scale. The underlying focus of our research is to
fabricate single molecule circuits, a molecule attached to two electrodes, with varied functionality, where
the circuit structure is defined with atomic precision. We measure how electronic conduction and single bond
breaking forces in these devices relate not only to the molecular structure, but also to the metal contacts
and linking bonds. Our experiments provide a deeper understanding of the fundamental physics of electron
transport, while laying the groundwork for technological advances at the nanometer scale.
NEWS
News from 2026
Sept. 2026.
Woojung's paper in collaboration with Campos group is published in JACS.
June 2026.
Wanzhou's paper in collaboration with Evers group is published in Nature Communications.
June 2026.
Artem's paper in collaboration with Liu group is published in Nano Letters.
May 2026.
Our tutorial paper on Scanning Tunneling Microscope-Based Break-Junction Technique is published in ACS Physical Chemistry Au.
News from 2025
Aug. 2025.
Emma's paper in collaboration with the Roy group at Columbia is published in Nano Letters.
July. 2025.
Our paper in collaboration with the Tovar Group at JHU is pubshiled in Nano Letters.
July. 2025.
Our paper on the CISS effect lead by Liang Li is published in JACS.
Mar. 2025.
Congratulations to Woojung Lee on successfully defending his thesis.
Feb. 2025.
Woojung's aper on Ferrocenes is published in Nano Letters.
Jan. 2025.
Our lab has moved to ISTA in Klosterneuburg, Austria.
News from 2024
Sept. 2024.
Our commentary with Prof. Jan Van Ruitenbeek on the work from the group led by Xuefeng Gui is published in Nature Chemistry.
July. 2024.
Congratulations to Dr. Liang Li on successfully defending his thesis.
July. 2024.
Congratulations to Dr. Claudia Prindle on successfully defending her thesis.
July. 2024.
Wanzhou and Julia's Paper on impedance spectroscoy is published in Nano Letters.
May 2024.
Congratulations to Angela Paoletta on successfully defending her thesis.
May 2024.
Congratulations to Liang Li on receiving the Hammett Award from
the Department of Chemistry and to Miriam Aziz on receiving Department Honors.
Feb. 2024.
Woojung's paper in collaboration with Mike Inkpen and Ferdinand Evers is published
in Nature Communications.
Feb. 2024.
Angela's paper on shot-noise measurements in single-molecule devices is published
in Nano Letters.
Jan. 2024. Claudia and Wanzhuo's paper on gating a single-molecule
device in collaboration with the Nuckolls group is published in JACS and featured as a spotlight.
Jan. 2024. Johnson's paper on the impact of solvents on thiol linked
molecular junctions is published in Nano Letters.
Nov. 2023.
Congratulations to Liang for winning a Silver Medal at the Fall MRS!
Aug. 2023. Check out our new JACS Perspective
on Radical Single-Molecule Junctions.
Jul. 2023. Congratulations to Liang Li on receiving the 2023 Edward Prince Goldman Scholarship in Science from The New York
Community Trust. The award is given annually to Natural Sciences graduate students selected by
faculty, and includes a prize of $5,000 funded by the Sidney Prince Trust.
Apr. 2023. Woojung receive Silver Medal at Spring MRS.
Congratulations!
Jan. 2023. Li and Shayan's work on topological
radical pairs in collaboration with the Nuckolls group is published in JACS and featured in C&EN.
Jan. 2023. Boyuan and Cedric's work
on peroxide homolysis in collaboration with the Nuckolls and Berkelbach groups is published in Chem.
Sci. and featured in Chemistry World.
News from 2022
Oct. 2022. Nick work on Ni-catalyzed field-driven C-C bond coupling in
collaboration with the Nuckolls group is published in Chem.
Comm. Oct. 2022. Liang & Suman's paper is published in J. Phys. Chem.
Letters.
July 2022. Congratulations to Julia
for successfully defending her thesis!
July 2022. Liang's paper on single-molecule topological insulators
gets published in Nature Chemistry.
June 2022. Austin Evans joins the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor.
Congratulations!
May 2022. Woojung's paper on temperature dependent conductance is
published in Nano Letters.
January 2022.
Angela's paper on plasmonic enhancement in Au tunnel junctions is published in ACS
Photonics.
News from 2021
Oct. 2021. We welcome Emma York and Wanzhuo Shi to the lab.
June 2021. Congratulations to Suman and
Rachel on successfully defending their thesis!
May 2021. Check out our CCI outreach science videos on TikTok.
May 2020. Congratulation
to Claudia for receiving the 2021 NDSEG
Fellowship!
May 2021. Congratulations to Tianren
on successfully defending his thesis!
April 2021. Congratulations to Suman
on receiving the Hammett Award from the Chemistry Department. Also to Micheal on receiving the
Chandler Society award and to Claudia and Angela on receiving teaching awards.
April
2021. Congratulations to Austin for receiving the Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and
Engineering. March 2021.Congratulations to
Claudia for receiving the 2021 NDSEG Fellowship!
March 2021. Julia's work demonstrating destructive
interference-induced highly non-linear current-voltage characteristics in a Benzothiadiazole
derivative, with Tianren and Suman, and in collaboration with the Skabara group is published in Nature
Nanotechnology.
January 2021.
Yaping's work voltage-induced single-molecule planarization in collaboration with
Satish Patil and Gemma Solomon's groups is published in Nano Letters.
News from 2020
December 2020.
E-Dean's work on light emission from Au tunnel junctions is published in Nano
Letters.
October 2020.
Yaping's work on Cumulene wires in collaboration with Qi Zou and the Nuckolls
group is published in Nano Letters.
October 2020.
We welcome two new first year students - Lisa Wei and Woojung Lee. September 2020. We launch a new NSF-funded CCI Phase 1 center to
study Chemistry in Electric Fields!
August 2020. Congratulations to E-Dean
on successfully defending his thesis!
June 2020. Our
lab reopens after implementing social distancing and masking protocols.
May 2020. Congratulation to Angela for
receiving the 2020 NDSEG Fellowship!
April 2020. Tianren's paper
on using deep learning to perform a supervised classification of STM-BJ measurements is
published in Nano Letters.
March 2020. We shut down our lab due to
COVID.
March 2020. Rachel's paper on creating molecular junctions with
Au-C links is published in JACS.
March 2020. Suman and Julia's paper on visualizing quantum
interference is published in Nano Letters.
News from 2019
December 2019.
Our annual visit to Harlem Children's Zone where we do science demos for the seventh
graders with the Roy group is a great success
November 2019.
We welcome three new first year students - Angela, Liang and Claudia.
October 2019.
Our work demonstrating electric-field catalysis in solution in collaboration with the
Nuckolls group was published in Nature Communications.
November 2018. Giacomo paper in collaboration with Profs.
Cvetko, Morgante and Roy on carbene-gold interactions is published in Chemical Science.
November 2018. E-Dean runs the NYC marathon and we all cheer him
on.
October 2018. Yaping's paper, in collaboration with Prof. Gemma Solomon
and Prof. Satish Patil's group, on Diketopyrrolopyrrole is published in JACS.
September 2018. Suman's paper on the conductance of
polymethine molecular wires in collaboration with Prof. Evers and Prof. Marder is published in
Nano Letters.
June 2018
. Our work on creating a single-molecule insulator based on destructive
sigma-interference, in collaboration with the Solomon, Nuckolls and Xiao groups is published in
Nature.
May 2018.Mike Inkpen accepts a faculty
position in the Department of Chemistry at USC. Congratulations!
April 2018.
Congratulations to Suman and Tianren on passing their 2nd year
defense! March 2018. We organize, with Mike Inkpen and Gemma
Solomon, a symposium at ACS in New Orleans on 'Chemistry of Molecular
Electronics'.
January 2018. Our work probing charge transport in peptides is
published in J.P.C.Lett.
Farewll lunch on Giacomo's last day
News from 2017
December 2017. We spend the morning at Promise Academy 2 showing
their seventh graders some fun science experiments with members from the Campos and
Fernandez groups.
October 2017. Our paper demonstrating a highly
transparent Au-N bond, in collaboration with Roy group was published in
JACS.
October 2017.
Our paper on creating an antiaromatic single molecule
switch, collaboration with the Campos and Neaton groups was
published in Science Advances.
August 2017. Our paper in collaboration with
the Roy group was published
in Nature Nanotechnology and featured in IEEE
Spectrum. July 2017. We show that Siloxanes make great
insulators in a new work published in JACS in collaboration with the Nuckolls and
Solomon groups. This was featured in Chemistry
World and Scientific
American.
April 2017. Congratulations to
Haixing on successfully defending her thesis!
March 2017. Suman receives NSF Graduate Research
Fellowship!! Congratulations.
February 2017. E-Dean's paper on probing the impact of light on
molecular junctions published in Nano Letters.
January
2017. Congratulations to Haixing Li on receiving
the Iris Ovshinsky Student Travel Award
from APS.
January 2017. Our work on creating a single-molecule diode is featured
in C&EN and
in ACS Central Science.
January 2017. Haixing's paper in collaboration with the Nuckolls and
Leighton groups is published in JACS and also featured as a cover.
News from 2016
November 2016.
We take part in a Girls Science day event at Columbia.
August 2016. Haixing's paper on the conductance of cyclic pentasilanes
is published in Chemical Science.
June 2016. Brian's paper on mapping the
transmission function in single-molecule junctions is published in Nano Letters.
May
2016. Brian Capozzi shares the 2016 Simon Prize awarded to the graduate student of the
Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics who has completed the most
outstanding dissertation. Congratulations Brian!
March 2016. Our
review for Accounts of Chemical Research with Mark Hybertsen is published.
February
2016. Tim Su's review on the chemical principles of single-molecule electronics is
published in Nature Reviews Materials.
January 2016. Bonnie & Brian's paper on measuring the
conductance of atomically precise molecular nano clusters is published in Chemical Science
starting a new collaboration with the Roy Group.
News from 2015 December 2015.
We spend the morning at Promise Academy 2 showing their seventh graders some
fun science experiments with members from the Campos and Fernandez groups.
December 2015. Olgun Adak's paper on measuring charge transfer dynamics
across dissimilar interfaces using x-ray spectroscopy techniques, in collaboration with the Cvetko
and Morgante groups is published in Nano Letters.
October 2015.
Congratulations to Olgun for successfully defending his thesis.
September
2015. Tim and Haixing's paper on conductance through Germanes, in collaboration with
the Nuckolls' group is published in JACS.
June 2015. Olgun Adak's two papers are published in Nano Letters. The
first is on noise
measurements in molecular junctions in collaboration with Mark Hybertsen. The second on the
impact of the electrode density
of states on single-molecule junction conductance in collaboration with Ferdinand
Evers' group.
May 2015. Our paper on creating a single-molecule diode with high on/off
ratios in collaboration with the Campos and Neaton groups is published online in Nature
Nanotechnologyand featured as a News &
Views.
May 2015 Congratulations to Brian Capozzi on successfully defending
his thesis.
Apr. 2015 Haixing's paper in collaboration with the
Nuckolls group is featured on the cover of JACS and as a spotlight.
Feb. 2015 Two papers in collaboration with Profs. Campos and
Nuckolls are published back to back in Nature Chemistry and featured in
an editorial.
Feb. 2015 Congratulations to Emma Dell on successfully
defending her thesis.
Jan. 2015 Congratulations to Brian Capozzi on
receiving the Iris Ovshinsky Student Travel Award from APS.
News from 2014
May. 2014 Congratulations to
Arunabh Batra on successfully defending his thesis.
May. 2014 Sriharsha
Aradhya receives "Simon Prize" for the most outstanding dissertation.
Congratulations!
Apr. 2014 "Breakdown of Interference Rules in Azulene,
a Non-Alternant Hydrocarbon" in collaboration with Profs. Campos and Solomon is published
in Nano Letters and featured
in Nanotechweb.org.
Mar. 2014 "Tunable Charge
Transport in Single-Molecule Junctions via Electrolytic Gating" is published in Nano
Letters and featured in Nanotechweb.org.
Feb.
2014 "Evaluating Atomic Components in Molecular Circuits", in collaboration with
Prof. Nuckolls is published in Chemical Science.
Jan.
2014 "Determination of Energy Level Alignment and Coupling Strength in
4,4'-Bipyridine Single-Molecule Junctions", in collaboration with Prof. Neaton is published
in Nano Letters.
Jan. 2014 "Aromaticity Decreases
Single-Molecule Junction Conductance", in collaboration with Prof. Breslow is published
in JACS.
News from 2013
Dec.
2013 "Transport properties of individual C60-molecules", in collaboration with
Prof. Evers is published in J. Chem. Phys.
Nov.
2013 "Tuning Rectification in Single-Molecular Diodes", in collaboration with
Profs. Nuckolls and Neaton is published in Nano Letters and featured
in Nanotechweb.org.
Nov. 2013 "Silicon Ring
Strain Creates High-Conductance Pathways in Single-Molecule Circuits", in collaboration with Profs.
Nuckolls, Leighton and Steigerwald is published in JACS.
Aug.
2013 "Impact of Molecular Symmetry on Single-Molecule Conductance", in
collaboration with Prof. Campos is published in JACS.
July
2013 "Ultrafast Charge Transfer Through Non-Covalent Au-N Interactions in
Molecular Systems", in collaboration with Prof. Morgante and Cvetko is published in J.
Phys. Chem. C.
July 2013 "Conductance of Molecular
Junctions Formed with Silver Electrodes", in collaboration with Dr. Hybertsen is published
in Nano Letters.
Jun. 2013 Congratulations to
Sriharsha Aradhya on successfully defending his thesis.
May
2013 "Length-‐Dependent Thermopower of Highly Conducting Au-‐C Bonded Single
Molecule Junctions", in collaboration with Dr. Hybertsen is published in Nano
Letters.
May 2013 Congratulations to Jon Widawsky on
successfully defending his thesis.
Apr. 2013 Congratulations to
Sriharsha Aradhya for winning the "MRS Graduate Student Gold
Award".
Mar. 2013 "Correlating Structure, Conductance and
Mechanics of Silver Atomic-Scale Contacts", in collaboration with Prof. Halbritter is published
in ACS Nano.
News from 2012
Dec.
2012 "The Importance of Direct Metal-π Coupling in Electronic Transport Through
Conjugated Single-molecule Junctions", in collaboration with Prof. Nuckolls is published
in J. Am. Chem. Soc.
Dec. 2012 "Quantitative
Current-Voltage Characteristics in Molecular Junctions from First Principles", in collaboration with
Dr. Neaton's group is published in Nano Letters.
Nov.
2012 "Quantum Soldering of Individual Quantum Dots", in collaboration with Prof.
Nuckolls and Dr. Michael Steigerwald is published in Angewandte
Chemie.
Oct. 2012 "Probing the Conductance Superposition
Law in Single-Molecule Circuits with Parallel Paths", in collaboration with Prof. Breslow and Dr.
Mark Hybertsen is published in Nature Nanotechnology along with
a News
& Viewsarticle.
Sep. 2012 "Quantifying
Through-Space Charge Transfer Dynamics in π-Coupled Molecular Systems", in collaboration with Profs.
Cvetko and Morgante is published in Nature Communications.
Aug.
2012 "Van der Waals Interactions in Metal-Organic Interfaces at the
Single-Molecule Level", in collaboration with Dr. Mark Hybertsen is published in Nature
Materials along with a News &
Viewsarticle and featured on the Columbia
SEAS web page.
July. 2012 "Electronic Transport and
Mechanical Stability of Carboxyl Linked Single-Molecule Junctions", in collaboration with Colin
Nuckolls group is published in Phy. Chem. Chem. Phys.
Jun.
2012 Sriharsha Aradhya receives "Best Student Paper Award" at the
SEM Conference in Costa Mesa, California. Congratulations!
Mar.
2012 "Correlation Analysis of Atomic and Single-Molecule Junction Conductance", in
collaboration with Prof. Halbritter's group is published in ACS
Nano.
Contact:
Latha Venkataraman, Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
Am Campus 1, 3400 Klosterneuburg, Austria
Phone: +43 2243 9000 2352; email: latha.venkataraman(at)ist.ac.at
