Step‐Mediated Anisotropic Adsorption and Condensation of tert‐Butylamine on Cu(111)

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied in studying the anisotropic adsorption and condensation of tert‐butylamine (t‐BA) molecules in the vicinity of the steps on the Cu(111) surface. The preferential adsorption at the upper step edges and uneven distribution of t‐BA in the vicinity of the steps illustrate the asymmetric electronic structure of the surface steps. Our observation demonstrates that the adsorption and diffusion of a polar molecule would be significantly mediated by steps on metal surfaces due to the molecule–step interaction and the intermolecular interactions.