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We investigate the electronic conductance and thermopower of a single-molecule junction consisting of bis-(4-aminophenyl) acetylene (B4APA) connected to gold electrodes. We use nonequilibrium Green's function methods in combination with density-functional theory (DFT) and the many-body GW approximation. To simulate recent break junction experiments, we calculate the transport properties of the junction as it is pulled apart. For all junction configurations, DFT with a standard semilocal functional overestimates the conductance by almost an order of magnitude, while the thermopower is underestimated by up to a factor of 3, except for the most highly stretched junction configurations. In contrast, the G W results for both conductance and thermopower are in excellent agreement with experiments for a wide range of electrode separations. We show that the GW self-energy not only renormalizes the molecular energy levels but also the coupling strength. The latter is a consequence of the finite response time associated with the electronic screening in the metal electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an electron tunnels between two metal contacts it temporarily induces an image charge (IC) in the electrodes which acts back on the tunneling electron. It is usually assumed that the IC forms instantaneously such that a static model for the image potential applies. Here we investigate how the finite IC formation time affects charge transport through a molecule suspended between two electrodes. For a single-level model, an analytical treatment shows that the conductance is suppressed by a factor Z2, where Z is the quasiparticle renormalization factor, compared to the static IC approximation. We show that Z can be expressed either in terms of the plasma frequency of the electrode or as the overlap between electrode wave functions corresponding to an empty and filled level, respectively. First-principles GW calculations for benzene-diamine connected to gold electrodes show that the dynamical corrections, can reduce the conductance by more than a factor of two when compared to static GW or density functional theory where the molecular energy levels have been shifted to match the exact quasiparticle levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary semiconductor nanowire arrays enable scalable fabrication of nano-optoelectronic devices with tunable bandgap. However, the lack of insight into the effects of the incorporation of Vy element results in lack of control on the growth of ternary III-V1-yVy nanowires and hinders the development of high-performance nanowire devices based on such ternaries. Here, we report on the origins of Sb-induced effects affecting the morphology and crystal structure of self-catalyzed GaAsSb nanowire arrays. The nanowire growth by molecular beam epitaxy is changed both kinetically and thermodynamically by the introduction of Sb. An anomalous decrease of the axial growth rate with increased Sb2 flux is found to be due to both the indirect kinetic influence via the Ga adatom diffusion induced catalyst geometry evolution and the direct composition modulation. From the fundamental growth analyses and the crystal phase evolution mechanism proposed in this Letter, the phase transition/stability in catalyst-assisted ternary III-V-V nanowire growth can be well explained. Wavelength tunability with good homogeneity of the optical emission from the self-catalyzed GaAsSb nanowire arrays with high crystal phase purity is demonstrated by only adjusting the Sb2 flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]