Conductance of a photochromic molecular switch with graphene leads

Abstract: We report a full self-consistent ab initio calculation of the conductance of a diarylethene-based molecular switch with two graphene electrodes. Our result show the contributions of the resonant states of the molecule, of the electrode density of states, and of graphene unique features such as edge states. The conductivities are found to be significantly different for the two photochromic isomers at zero and finite applied bias. Further we point out the possibility of causing the switching by the application of a large potential difference between the two electrodes.