Orientation effect on the electronic transport properties of C24 fullerene molecule

The transport properties of the cage-like molecule depend on its orientation between the electrodes, but the investigation on the mechanism has not been found. Using first-principle density-functional theory (DFT) and non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism for quantum transport calculation, we study the electronic transport properties of C24 fullerene molecule with different orientations in Au-C24-Au two-probe system. The effects of k-point sampling on the Brillouin zone are explored. Our results show that the negative differential resistance of C24 molecule is found in such a system and can be tuned by the molecule's orientation in the two-probe system. We also proposed a mechanism for it. The I-V characteristic under bias voltage is determined. The present findings could be helpful for the application of the C24 molecule in the field of single molecular devices or nanometer electronics.