Elodie Dureau PhD defense
Design and synthesis of functional organic and organometallic molecular wires for molecular electronics
Friday 28 November 2025, 14:00Passed
Organometallics: Materials & Catalysis (OMC) team
Abstract
Molecular electronics are now emerging as a promising alternative to silicon-based technologies. It opens the way to the integration of complex functions, switching, rectification, energy conversion, directly at the scale of a single molecule. However, at this scale, the design of efficient devices relies on a detailed understanding of structure-property relationships and a knowledge of quantum phenomena that govern electronic transport. In this context, this thesis explores several key functions through the synthesis of custom molecular wires and their characterizations: (i) thermoelectricity, by identifying organometallic architectures based on Ru and Pt complexes capable of reconciling high conductance and high Seebeck coefficient; (ii) pinning effect, to understand how electrode-molecule interactions in SAMs can limit the modulation of energy levels via the synthesis of a series of fluorinated and non-fluorinated OPEs; (iii) negative differential resistance (NDR), by studying two-site systems favoring higher conductance thanks to the introduction of silicon atoms; and finally (iv) optical switching, by monitoring by in situ Raman spectroscopy the isomerization of photochromic units which modulates the conductance and by the development of a new topology for electronic switches. This synthetic work is part of a project structured around organic synthesis, quantum calculations (DFT, NEGF) and experimental measurements (mono-molecular junctions and SAMs) and aims to identify key parameters to optimize the performance of functional molecular wires and propose new building blocks for the electronics of tomorrow.
Jury
Anna Proust, Professor, Sorbonne University, IPCM / Reporter
Claire Kammerer, Associate Professor, CEMES, Toulouse University / Reporter
Philippe Blanchard, CNRS Research Director, Angers university, Moltech-Anjou / Examiner
Bruno Fabre, CNRS Research Director, Rennes University, ISCR / Examiner
Stéphane Rigaut, Professor, Rennes University, ISCR / Supervisor
Olivier Galangau, CNRS Researcher, Rennes University, ISCR / Co-Supervisor
Contacts
Stéphane Rigaut, stephane.rigaut@univ-rennes.fr
Olivier Galangau, olivier.galangau@univ-rennes.fr
