Current-Driven Molecular Machine with Rotation-Enhanced Conductance

For more than two millennia, Archimedean screws have been used for water pumping and, more recently, as turbines in hydroelectric power stations[1]. Their helical-blade structure, essential to their function, is also found in chiral molecules and nanostructures, where injected electric current has been proposed to generate torque-mediated rotation[2,3]. Here, we present a torque-driven molecular machine with a rotor actuated by electric current and conductance enhanced by its rotation.

Suspending a helicene molecule between two electrode tips, we show that an applied voltage induces cyclic…