Dresden 2017 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 81: Oxide and Insulator Surfaces: Adsorption II
O 81.2: Talk
Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 16:15–16:30, WIL C107
Photochemical switching of azobenzene derivatives on an insulating surface — •Simon Jaekel1, Antje Richter2, Robert Lindner2, Angelika Kühnle2, Stefan Hecht3, and Leonhard Grill1 — 1Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Graz, Austria — 2Institute for Physical Chemistry, Johannes-Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany — 3Department of Chemistry, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany
Studying single molecular switches is of interest for a better understanding of fundamental physical and chemical processes, but also in view of their possible use in molecular nanotechnology [1].
A prototypical conformational switch is azobenzene, which changes between trans and cis isomers at the central N=N bond upon an external stimulus, showing efficient photochemical activation. In the past years, various studies have shown that adsorption on metal substrates strongly influences the switching properties [2,3], especially for activation by light [4].
We present non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) results on the switching of individual azobenzene molecules on a calcite surface where the molecules retain their photochemical activity.
[1] C. Joachim et al., Nature 506, 651 (2000); [2] Choi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 156106 (2006); [3] Dri et al., Nature Nanotechnology 3, 649 (2008); [4] Comstock et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 99, 038301 (2007)