Electronic transport properties of a molecular switch with carbon nanotube electrodes: A first-principles study

We have studied the electronic transport properties of a new kind of optical molecular switch with two single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) electrodes using first-principles transport calculations. It is shown that the enol form shows an overall higher conductance than the keto form at low-bias voltage, which is independent of the SWCNTs’ chirality. Meantime, it is possible to tune the conductance of the molecular switch by changing the chirality of the SWCNTs.