Researchers from the US and Russia have shown how it is possible to measure the diode properties of a single molecule and how the orientation of the molecule between two electrodes can be controlled. The findings are a significant advance in the expanding field of molecular electronics, which seeks to construct electronic circuits from molecular-scale components, opening the prospect of a new generation of devices that are immensely powerful and efficient yet tiny.Diodes act as electronic 'check valves' in a circuit, permitting current to flow in one direction only through a process known as rectification. In a molecular circuit, single molecules acting...