Berlin 2015 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 71: Surface Dynamics
O 71.4: Poster
Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 18:15–21:00, Poster A
Switching single azobenzene-based molecules by STM — •Simon Jaekel1, Knud Seufert1, Christophe Nacci1, Stefan Hecht2, and Leonhard Grill1 — 1Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Graz, Austria — 2Department of Organic Chemistry, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Molecular switches, i.e. molecules that exhibit at least two stable states * each with characteristic physical/chemical properties * that can be achieved reversibly by an external stimulus, represent an interesting class of functional molecules since they allow to get detailed insight in a basic chemical process, which is also relevant in biological processes. Furthermore, they are key in the field of Molecular Electronics that is based on the ultimate miniaturization of electronic devices down to the level of single molecules. Various molecular switches have been studied in the last years, many of them based on azobenzene, a prototype of a molecular switch that exhibits a trans and a cis isomer with different electronic structure and absorption behavior. The switching process can be induced either by light, by the tunneling electrons or the electric field in the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) [1,2]. Here, we present new results on a new type of azobenzene derivatives that are strongly decoupled from the metallic surface by additional side groups. Accordingly, we find a very different adsorption behavior since the molecule-surface interaction is strongly reduced and successfully observe switching processes.
[1] Choi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 156106 (2006); [2] M. Alemani et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128 (45), 14446 (2006);