Understanding formation of molecular rotor array on Au(111) surface

The motion of single molecules on surfaces plays an important role in nanoscale engineering and bottom-up construction of complex devices at single molecular scale. In this article, we review the recent progress on single molecular rotors self-assembled on Au(111) surfaces. We focus on the motion of single phthalocyanine molecules on the reconstructed Au(111) surface based on the most recent results obtained by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). An ordered array of single molecular rotors with large scale is self-assembled on Au(111) surface. Combined with first principle calculations, the mechanism of the surface-supported molecular rotor is investigated. Based on these results, phthalocyanine molecules on Au (111) are a promising candidate system for the development of adaptive molecular device structures.     

Evolution of multilevel order in supramolecular assemblies

The process of self-assembly at multiple length scales of bis-urea substituted toluene on a Au(111) surface was studied by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. Pattern formation is controlled by specific hydrogen bonds between these molecules but also by significantly weaker lateral coupling between the resulting supramolecular polymers and a quasiepitaxial interlocking with the substrate. The ordered assemblies exhibit a tunnel transparency. Our experiments indicate the necessity of multiple interactions of different strengths for obtaining ordered structures with hierarchical levels of organization.     

Island formation and manipulation of prochiral azobenzene derivatives on Au(111)

Based on previous work with very similar azobenzene derivatives, this study of para-TBA (2,2',5,5'-tetra-tert-butylazobenzene) molecules aims to identify single intact molecules and investigate their adsorption behavior on a Au(111) surface. The molecules are found to be mobile on the surface at the deposition temperature, leading to highly ordered and enantiomerically pure molecular islands. Voltage pulses between the surface and the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope are used to change the chirality of the adsorbate molecules. On the Cu(111) surface instead, single molecules are found on the terraces, which points to a stronger molecule-substrate interaction.     

Role of buffer layer in electronic structures of iron phthalocyanine molecules on Au(111)

We investigate the electronic structures of one and two monolayer iron phthalocyanine (FePc) molecules on Au(111) surfaces. The first monolayer FePc is lying flat on the Au(111) substrate, and the second monolayer FePc is tilted at～15° relative to the substrate plane along the nearest neighbour [101ˉ] direction with a lobe downward to the central hole of the unit cell in the first layer. The structural information obtained by first-principles calculations is in agreement with the experiment results. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the electronic structures of FePc molecules in one-monolayer FePc/Au(111) system are perturbed significantly, while the electronic structures of FePc molecules in the second monolayer in two-monolayer FePc/Au(111) system remain almost unchanged due to the screening of the buffer layer on Au(111).     

Do methanethiol adsorbates on the Au(111) surface dissociate?

The interaction of methanethiol molecules CH3SH with the Au(111) surface is investigated, and it is found for the first time that the S-H bond remains intact when the methanethiol molecules are adsorbed on the regular Au(111) surface. However, it breaks if defects are present in the Au(111) surface. At low coverage, the fcc region is favored for S atom adsorption, but at saturated coverage the adsorption energies at various sites are almost isoenergetic. The presented calculations show that a methanethiol layer on the regular Au(111) surface does not dimerize.     

Dy@C82分子在Au(111)表面依赖于覆盖度的取向研究

利用超高真空扫描隧道显微镜, 在低温(80 K)下研究了同分异构体分子Dy@C₈₂在Au(111)表面的吸附与分子取向．在低覆盖度下,Dy@C₈₂分子优先吸附于台阶边缘形成分子团簇与分子链结构．这种吸附取决于分子-衬底的相互作用,并存在多种不同的分子取向．增大分子覆盖度后,Dy@C₈₂在金表面形成二维有序密排的单层膜结构．Dy@C₈₂分子在金表面的取向倾向于其C₂长轴与金表面近乎平行．具有三种取向的分子最具优势,而同种取向的分子组成许多局限于一个个小区域内的取向有序结构畴．随着覆盖度的增加,Dy@C₈₂分子在Au(111)表面趋向于短程有序取向排列,这是由分子-衬底作用与分子间的偶极-偶极作用共同决定的．     

On-surface radical addition of triply iodinated monomers on Au(111)—the influence of monomer size and thermal post-processing

In the present study on-surface polymerisation of aromatic iodinated precursor molecules through radical addition is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on Au(111) under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions. Comparison of the two analogous monomers s-triiodobenzene and s-triiodophenylbenzene with similar symmetry and functionalization but differently sized organic backbones aimed to study the influence of monomer size on the morphology of resulting covalent networks. In contrast to previous studies on brominated monomers, here the reaction by-product, i.e., the split-off iodine atoms, was found to adsorb stably on Au(111) in ordered structures. The influence of post-processing by thermal annealing on both the covalent networks and the iodine structures was studied for different temperatures. DFT calculations were applied to evaluate formation energies of commonly observed topological defects and related to their experimental probability of occurrence.     

杯[8]芳烃及其C60络合物有序阵列的构筑

文章介绍了最近作者对杯芳烃及其C60络合物有序阵列的研究结果，以多孔的杯[8]芳烃阵列为模板，通过主客体相互作用，在Au(111)表面上成功构筑了高度有序的C60阵列，这一结果为富勒烯等功能分子有序阵列的制备、表面可控组装以及纳米信息存储器件的构筑等提供了又一可能性。     

Molecule length-induced reentrant self-organization of alkanes in monolayers adsorbed on Au(111)

We report the observation by scanning tunneling microscopy of the reentrant self-organization of n-alkanes (C(n)H(2n+2)) in monolayers adsorbed on Au(111) induced by a variation of the chain length. In the investigated range of lengths ( 10相似文献   

Role of surface electronic structure in thin film molecular ordering

We show that the orientation of pentacene molecules is controlled by the electronic structure of the surface on which they are deposited. We suggest that the near-Fermi level density of states above the surface controls the interaction of the substrate with the pentacene pi orbitals. A reduction of this density as compared to noble metals, realized in semimetallic Bi(001) and Si(111)(5 x 2)Au surfaces, results in pentacene standing up. Interestingly, pentacene grown on Bi(001) is highly ordered, yielding the first vertically oriented epitaxial pentacene thin films observed to date.     

Ag(111)和Au(111)上铋的初始生长行为

半金属铋(Bi)的表面合金具有的Rashba效应,和其具体结构性质有重要关联.本文结合扫描隧道显微镜(STM)和密度泛函理论(DFT),系统地研究了Bi原子在Ag(111)和Au(111)上的不同初始生长行为.在室温Ag(111)上,连续的Ag2Bi合金薄膜会优先在Ag台阶边缘形成;在570 K Ag(111)上,随着...     

Leed and thermal desorption studies of small molecules (H2, O2, CO,CO2, NO,C2H4, C2H2 AND C) chemisorbed on the rhodium (111) and (100) surfaces

The chemisorption of H₂, O₂, CO, CO₂, NO, C₂H₄, C₂H₂ and C has been studied on the clean Rh(111) and (100) surfaces. LEED, AES and thermal desorption were used to determine the surface structures, disordering and desorption temperatures, displacement and decomposition characteristics for each species. All of the molecules studied readily chemisorbed on both surfaces. A large variety of ordered structures was observed, especially on the (111) surface. The disordering temperatures of most ordered surface structures on the (111) surface were below 100°C. It was necessary to adsorb the gases at 25° C or below in order to obtain well-ordered surface structures. Chemisorbed oxygen was readily removed from the surface by H₂ or CO gas at crystal temperatures above 50°C. CO₂ appears to dissociate to CO upon adsorption on both rhodium surfaces as indicated by the identical ordering and desorption characteristics of these two molecules. C₂H₄ and C₂H₂ also had very similar ordering and desorption characteristics and it is likely that the adsorbed species formed by both molecules is the same. Decomposition of ethylene produced a sequence of ordered carbon surface structures on the (111) face as a result of a bulk-surface carbon equilibrium. The chemisorption properties of rhodium appear to be generally similar to those of iridium, nickel and palladium.     

Self-assembly and growth of manganese phthalocyanine on an Au（111） surface

Self-assembly and growth of manganese phthalocyanine (MnPc) molecules on an Au(111) surface is investigated by means of low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. At the initial stage, MnPc molecules preferentially occupy the step edges and elbow sites on the Au(111) surface, then they are separately adsorbed on the face-centered cubic and hexagonal closely packed regions due to a long-range repulsive molecule—molecule interaction. After the formation of a closely packed monolayer, molecular islands with second and third layers are observed.     

Optoelectronic Properties and Molecular Ordering of Tetracene Thin Layers on Gold

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) were used to study the molecular organization and morphology of vacuum-deposited tetracene layers. FTIR and optical measurements confirm that tetracene molecules are not dissociated during vacuum thermal deposition. With STM imaging, a highly ordered, closely packed, lamella-like structure of tetracene monolayer film on the Au(111) surface was observed. Electroluminescence from the nanocomposite consisting of Au nanoparticles and tetracene film is concentrated within submicron luminescent centers and occurs at voltages of 4–5 V in a superlinear section of conduction current–voltage curves. The results can be useful for the design of planar light-emitting devices.     

Mesoscopic structural transformations of the Au(111) surface induced by alkali metal adsorption

The response of the Au(111) surface reconstruction on the adsorption of Na and K atoms was studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy. With increasing coverage the periodicity of the chevron structure decreases continuously from about 250 to 100 Å. For Na coverages exceeding θ ≈ 0.20 the stacking fault lines become distorted and eventually a poorly ordered domain structure with hexagonal symmetry and even higher density of Au atoms is formed at θ ≈ 0.23. These effects are attributed to an adsorbate-induced weakening of the coupling between the first two Au layers by which the influence of the elastic stress within the topmost layer becomes more dominant.     

Two commensurate hydrogen-bonded monolayer structures of melamine on Ag(111)

Melamine (1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triamine) was deposited on the Ag(111) surface under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. It forms two different monolayer structures, which were investigated by low energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy. The α-phase is a honeycomb structure containing two molecules per unit-cell. The molecular orientation within the unit-cell is determined by six hydrogen bonds. The α-phase is kinetically preferred upon deposition at room-temperature and can be transferred to the thermodynamically more stable β-phase by annealing at 333 K. The β-phase has an oblique unit-cell containing four molecules and shows a higher surface density with additional hydrogen bonds between adjacent amino groups. Both structures are commensurate. While the structural motif of the α-phase has been observed before on Au(111) and Ag–Si(111) surfaces, the structure of the β-phase has been so far only theoretically predicted.     

Influence of Au and TiO2 structures on hydrogen dissociation over TiO2/Au(100)

We performed H₂–D₂ exchange reactions over TiO_x/Au(100) and compared the observed reaction kinetics with those reported for TiO_x/Au(111) in order to clarify the influence of the Au and TiO₂ structures on dissociation of H₂ molecules. Low energy electron diffraction observations showed that the TiO₂ produced on Au(100) was disordered, in contrast to the comparatively ordered TiO₂ structure formed on Au(111). The activation energies and the turnover frequencies for HD formation over TiO₂/Au(100) agreed well with those for TiO₂/Au(111), clearly indicating that the hydrogen dissociation sites created over TiO₂/Au(100) were the perimeter interface between stoichiometric TiO₂ and Au, as was previously concluded for TiO₂/Au(111). We concluded that the creation of active sites for hydrogen dissociation was independent of the Au and TiO₂ structures consisting perimeter interface, and that local bonds that formed between Au and O atoms of stoichiometric TiO₂ were essential for the creation of active sites.     

Adsorption of carboxymethylester-azobenzene on copper and?gold?single crystal surfaces

The adsorption of 3,3′-di(methoxycarbonyl)azobenzene (CMA) on Au(111) and on Cu(001) substrates was studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements at the C, N, and O K edges. We find the molecules physisorbed in a planar conformation flat on the Au(111) surface. At higher coverages, a molecular crystal is formed wherein the molecules have the same flat geometry. On Cu(001), additional chemical bonds are formed between the molecules and the surface via the nitrogen atoms. Here the methyl benzoate moieties are tilted out of the surface plane.     

Admetal-induced substrate surface restructuring during metal-on-metal electrochemical deposition studied by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy

Based on time-dependent in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies, we demonstrate that for Ni on Ag(111) and Ru on Au(111), electrochemical metal-on-metal deposition can result in pronounced substrate surface restructuring. For Ni/Ag(111), we observe that at low deposition flux and low coverage, Ni submonolayer islands at steps are partly embedded in the Ag terraces, whereas at higher deposition flux and higher coverage, substrate restructuring results in the formation of monolayer bays in the Ag terraces. We suggest that this restructuring process proceeds predominantly via step edge diffusion of Ag atoms. For Ru/Au(111), the formation of fjords and monolayer holes in the Au terraces is observed at low and high Ru coverage, respectively. The importance of the Au surface mobility for the restructuring process is demonstrated by comparing experiments in H₂SO₄ and HCl solutions, in which Au exhibits strongly different surface mobilities. For this system, restructuring involves Au diffusion along Au steps, Au atom detachment from the Au steps, and upward exchange diffusion. According to these observations and their comparison with similar findings for vacuum deposition, we conclude that this restructuring requires (i) a high substrate surface mobility and (ii) a stronger bonding of substrate atoms to deposit islands than to the substrate.     

Hexaphenyl thin films on clean and carbon covered Au(1 1 1) studied with TDS and LEED

The adsorption and growth of ordered para-hexaphenyl (6P) films have been investigated both on clean and partially carbon pre-covered Au(1 1 1) single crystal surfaces by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The existence of a distinct first and second monomolecular 6P layer that clearly separate from the multilayer regime, which comprise lying molecules with respect to the substrate surface, could be inferred from TDS. For both the 6P mono- and multilayer grown on pure Au(1 1 1) the desorption energies have been determined based on experimental TDS data. In particular, for the monolayer regime a coverage dependence of the desorption energy has been found, which is attributed to repulsive interactions between neighbouring 6P molecules adsorbed on the gold surface. The existence of well-ordered film structures could be inferred from LEED for half monolayer and full monolayer thick 6P films. Based on the LEED and TDS data, structural models are presented for these highly ordered organic films. Multi-step dehydrogenation of 6P molecules adsorbed on clean Au(1 1 1) surfaces is reported for temperatures above 650 K together with experimental evidence for the existence of a regular overlayer composed of partially dehydrogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) intermediates. A quite different adsorption/desorption kinetics and film growth has been observed for 6P films grown on carbon pre-covered Au(1 1 1) surfaces.