You're invited to the RACI WA Branch Chemaraderie!
Electron Transfer Within and Through Molecules:
A Moore-or-less Coordinated Approach
Prof. Paul Low
The ability to mediate electron transfer within, and between, solids and molecules underpins a vast array of processes essential to life (e.g. photosynthesis) and lifestyle (e.g. semiconductor electronics). The interest in the fundamentals and applications of charge transfer processes has driven decades of study using model systems derived from donor-acceptor compounds and complexes, including ‘mixed-valence’ examples. In more recent times, the introduction of laboratory methods for the construction of electrode|molecule(s)|electrode molecular junctions have permitted directed measurement of the electrical characteristics of monolayers and single molecules. Whilst the original impetus around such endeavours may be linked to the concept of a molecular-based electronics technology as part of an effort to maintain Moore’s Law, the unique properties of molecular systems beyond the mimicry of the electronic functions of solid-state materials is increasingly being recognised and pursued.[1]
This presentation will summarise a body of work from the Low group that attempts to draw correlations between the electrical response of molecular junctions formed from carbon-based ‘components’ suspended between (metal) electrodes,[3] and the results of studies of electron transfer in mixed-valence systems.[2] Strategies that permit the construction of device structures based on metallic top-contacts will also be described,[4] along with evidence of, or at least analogies between, quantum interference effects in both molecular junctions[5] and mixed-valence systems,[6]
Biography:
Paul was born and raised in Elizabeth, South Australia, and educated at the University of Adelaide, where he pursued a rather eclectic mixture of music (with a year at the Elder Conservatorium of Music on the Robert Michael Paog scholarship for guitar) and chemistry (for which he was awarded the G.M. Badger, Rennie and David Murray prizes and scholarships), whilst spending far too much time on a cricket field (and becoming the least talented player ever to win the SACA McLeod-Wilson medal in the process). Paul’s research interests in organometallic chemistry, mixed-valence chemistry and wider aspects of bridge-mediated electron transfer were inspired by his PhD studies with Michael Bruce, with Allan White (UWA), Stephen Best (Melbourne), Graham Heath (ANU) and Jean-Francois Halet (Rennes) being other key figures in developing these ideas. A postdoctoral position with Arthur Carty at the Canadian National Research Council was followed by appointment to the academic staff in the Department of Chemistry at Durham University, UK (1999 Lecturer, 2006 Reader, 2010 Professor). The time at Durham allowed Paul to engage with the dynamic molecular electronics and inorganic chemistry communities across the UK and Europe, developing the collaborations, concepts and friendships that have been pivotal to much of his independent work. In 2013, Paul was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship, and appointed to a Chair in Chemistry at the University of Western Australia. Over the past decade, Paul has served the RACI Inorganic Division as WA Representative, and Division secretary to Colette Boskovic. He was awarded a Fredrich Wilhelm Bessel research award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2016, the RACI H.G. Smith Memorial Medal in 2020 and the J.G. Burrows award in 2024. Since 2022 he has been the Head of the School of Molecular Sciences at UWA.
With thanks to our Chemaraderie sponsor
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