Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 74: Ultrafast Electron and Spin Dynamics at Interfaces

O 74.1: Poster

Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 18:15–20:30, Poster A

Electron dynamics at an azobenzene-functionalized metal surface — Wibke Bronsch, Larissa Boie, •Cornelius Gahl, and Martin Weinelt — Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of azobenzene-decorated alkanethiols represent a versatile class of systems for the functionalization of a metal surface with molecular switches. The alkyl-linker chains serve as a buffer layer to efficiently decouple the chromophores from the metal substrate. In this contribution we investigate the electron dynamics in SAMs of azobenzene-decorated undecane thiol diluted with dodecanethiol on Au(111) by means of two-photon photoemission spectroscopy. For a pure dodecanethiolate SAM a lifetime of ∼50 ps has been reported for an image potential state [1]. We found that the presence of azobenzene shortens its lifetime considerably. Furthermore, photoisomerization causes a change of the work function depending on the density of the photochromic moieties.

[1] M. Shibuta, N. Hirata, R. Matsui, T. Eguchi, and A. Nakajima, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 3, 981 (2012).