Using self-energy-corrected density functional theory (DFT) and a coherent scattering-state approach,
we explain current鈥搗oltage (IV) measurements of four pyridine-Au and amine-Au linked molecular junctions
with quantitative accuracy. Parameter-free many-electron self-energy corrections to DFT Kohn鈥揝ham eigenvalues are demonstrated to lead to excellent agreement
with experiments at finite bias, improving upon order-of-magnitude errors in currents obtained
with standard DFT approaches. We further propose an approximate route for prediction of quantitative IV characteristics for both symmetric and asymmetric molecular junctions based on linear response theory and kno
wledge of the Stark shifts of junction resonance energies. Our
work demonstrates that a quantitative, computationally inexpensive description of coherent transport in molecular junctions is readily achievable, enabling ne
w understanding and control of charge transport properties of molecular-scale interfaces at large bias voltages.
Keywords:
Density functional theory; many-body effects; current鈭抳oltage characteristics; Stark effect; molecular electronics; single molecule junction