Molecular-scale electronics: From device fabrication to functionality

By wiring molecules into circuits, "molecular electronics" aims at studying electronic properties of single molecules and their ensembles, on this basis exploiting their intrinsic functionalities, and eventually applying them as building blocks of electronic components for future electronic devices. Herein, fabricating reliable solid-state molecular devices and developing synthetic molecules endowed with desirable electronic properties, have been two major tasks since the dawn of molecular electronics. This review focuses on recent advances and efforts regarding the main challenges in this field, highlighting fabrication of nanogap electrodes for single-molecule junctions, and self-assembled-monolayers (SAMs) for functional devices. The prospect of molecular-scale electronics is also discussed.