Interaction effects in electric transport through self-assembled molecular monolayers

We theoretically investigate the effect of intermolecular Coulomb interactions on transport through self-assembled molecular monolayers (or other devices based on a large number of nanoscale conductors connected in parallel). Due to the interactions, the current through different molecules become correlated, resulting in distinct features in the nonlinear current-voltage characteristics, as we show by deriving and solving a type of modified master equation, suitable for describing transport through an infinite number of interacting conductors. Furthermore, if some of the molecules fail to bond to both electrodes, charge traps can be induced at high voltages and block transport through neighboring molecules, resulting in negative differential resistance. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.125417