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The energy dependent thermoelectric response of a single molecule contains valuable information about its transmission function and its excited states. However, measuring it requires devices that can efficiently heat up one side of the molecule while being able to tune its electrochemical potential over a wide energy range. Furthermore, to increase junction stability, devices need to operate at cryogenic temperatures. In this work, we report on a device architecture to study the thermoelectric properties and the conductance of single molecules simultaneously over a wide energy range. We employ a sample heater in direct contact with the metallic electrodes contacting the single molecule which allows us to apply temperature biases up to ΔT = 60 K with minimal heating of the molecular junction. This makes these devices compatible with base temperatures Tbath < 2 K and enables studies in the linear (Δ T ≪ T molecule ) and nonlinear (Δ T ≫ T molecule ) thermoelectric transport regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoscale heat transport is of increasing importance as it often defines performance of modern processors and thermoelectric nanomaterials, and affects functioning of chemical sensors and biosensors. Scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) is the leading tool for nanoscale mapping of thermal properties, but it is often negatively affected by unstable tip–surface thermal contacts. While operating SThM in-liquid environment may allow unimpeded thermal contact and open new application areas, it has so far been regarded as impossible due to increased heat dissipation into the liquid, and the perceived reduced spatial thermal resolution. Nevertheless, in this paper we show that such liquid immersion SThM (iSThM) is fully feasible and, while its thermal sensitivity and spatial resolution is somewhat below that of in-air SThM, it has sufficient thermal contrast to detect thermal conductivity variations in few tens of nm thick graphite nanoflake and metal–polymer nanostructured interconnects. Our results confirm that thermal sensing in iSThM can provide nanoscale resolution on the order of 30 nm, that, coupled with the absence of tip snap-in due to the elimination of capillary forces, opens the possibility for nanoscale thermal mapping in liquids, including thermal phenomena in energy storage devices, catalysts and biosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]