The Sinergia project “Electromechanical Systems” is geared towards the integration of single molecules in electronic circuits as functional units and to explore their electro-mechanical properties. In particular structures responding “mechanically” to an external trigger like an applied electric or electrochemical field are in the focus of interest. While hysteretic switches as future minute memory devices or new piezo materials are potential applications emerging from the project, its scientific impact is more important. On the way to these interdisciplinary and challenging targets basic scientific findings will be achieved like i) the design and fabrication of the required experimental set-ups, such as e.g. a controlled electromigration technique to create nanoscale gaps or electrically insulated AFM cantilever of unprecedented resolution, ii) the development of new investigation and analysis techniques, such as e.g. current-probe AFM under electrochemical ("gate") control and iii) the design and synthesis of suitable molecular structures like e.g. macrocycles comprising ferrocene subunits or turnstile-type structures. These tools, compounds and techniques developed during the proposed activity go clearly beyond the current state of the art and will further accelerate the already ongoing momentum in “molecular electronics” and “nanotechnology” in Switzerland.

To tackle these scientific aims, four groups band together pooling the expertise from physical chemistry, mesoscopic physics, micro engineering and synthetic chemistry. The consortium consist of the group of Thomas Wandlowski at the University of Bern with its unique experience in combined electrochemistry and scanning probe experiments, the group of Christian Schönenberger at the University of Basel with its impressive record in transport experiments through molecular junctions, the group of Nico de Rooij at the IMT-Samlab of the EPFL with its unique fabrication skills in micro devices and the group of Marcel Mayor at the University of Basel with its tradition in tailor-made molecular structures in molecular electronics.

The complex and multidisciplinary challenge requires the commitments of all four groups and a Sinergia project is hence ideally suited to concert their research activities. While all the partners are performing at the forefront of scientific originality and quality in their own field, none of them alone would be able to reach the proposed aims.

Thus, the consortium is looking forward to tackle the high flying targets of single molecule mechanical motion funded by the SNF via Sinergia.