清华大学材料科学与工程研究院《材料科学论坛》学术报告

报告时间：2025年11月25日上午10:00-11:30

报告人：Prof. Satoshi Kaneko

报告地点：清华大学逸夫技术科学楼A205学术报告厅

邀请人：王炜鹏老师

报告题目：Fabrication and Characterization of Single-Molecule Junctions

报告简介：

Advances in nanoscale science have enabled precise control and characterization of electron transport in molecular-scale devices. Single-molecule junctions (SMJs), which constitute the ultimate metal–molecule–metal interface, serve as fundamental systems for understanding charge transport, interfacial electronic structures, and their coupling with molecular vibrations. However, probing the structural and vibrational characteristics of an SMJ under operational conditions remains challenging due to the confinement of single molecules within metal nanogaps.

In our research, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been integrated with electrical transport measurements to investigate vibrational modes in operating SMJs. This approach enables direct correlation between Raman signals and electron-transport behaviors, revealing dynamic structural changes of the molecular junction. By simultaneously monitoring vibrational shifts, SERS intensity variations, and electric currents, we have elucidated how charge transfer, molecular configuration, and π–π stacking interactions modulate the vibrational energy and conductance of SMJs. Recent work highlights the vibrational signature of naphthalene-based molecular dimers within metal nanogaps and demonstrates how modulation of electron states governs SERS enhancement. These findings provide critical insights into molecular-scale structure–property relationships and open avenues for advancing molecular electronics with spectroscopic operando diagnostics.

报告人简介：

Satoshi Kaneko received his PhD from the Department of Chemistry at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2014, where he also served as a JSPS Research Fellow (DC1). He subsequently worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Tokyo Institute of Technology from 2014 to 2024 and as a Researcher in JST PRESTO from 2018 to 2022. Since 2024, he has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Science Tokyo.

He has received several awards, including the Springer Thesis Award (2016), the Young Researcher Encouragement Prize from the Japan Society of Applied Physics (2017), the Inoue Research Award for Young Scientists (2018), and the Young Scientist Award from the Spectroscopical Society of Japan (2023).