Interfacial electronic structure at a metal–phthalocyanine/graphene interface:Copper–phthalocyanine versus iron–phthalocyanine

The energy level alignment of CuPc and FePc on single-layer graphene/Ni(111)(SLG/Ni)substrate was investigated by using ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(UPS and XPS).The highest occupied molecular orbitals(HOMOs)in a thick layer of CuPc and FePc lie at 1.04 eV and 0.90 eV,respectively,below the Fermi level of the SLG/Ni substrate.Weak adsorbate–substrate interaction leads to negligible interfacial dipole at the CuPc/SLG/Ni interface,while a large interfacial dipole(0.20 eV)was observed in the case of FePc/SLG/Ni interface,due to strong adsorbate–substrate coupling.In addition,a new interfacial electronic feature was observed for the first time in the case of FePc on SLG/Ni substrate.This interfacial state can be attributed to a charge transfer from the SLG/Ni substrate to unoccupied orbitals of FePc.