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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 19: Poster Session II: Organic molecules on inorganic substrates: Adsorption and growth II

O 19.4: Poster

Monday, March 1, 2021, 13:30–15:30, P

Guiding molecular self-assembly by molecule-surface interaction — Ole Bunjes¹, Lucas A. Paul², Xinyue Dai³, •Alexandra Rittmeier¹, Tobias Claus¹, Feng Ding³, Inke Siewert², and Martin Wenderoth¹ — ¹IV. Physical Institute, University of Göttingen, Germany — ²Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Göttingen, Germany — ³Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Korea

One strategy for the generation of renewable fuels is the reduction of CO₂ to CO. Hence, the development of new hybrid systems catalyzing involved reaction steps is in the focus of current research. In this study the anchoring of the CO₂ reduction catalyst fac-Re(bpy)CO₃Cl (bpy = 2,2^′-bipyridine) on the clean Ag(001) surface is investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT). Sub-monolayer films of the complex were deposited with the substrate held at 300K. STM measurements at 77K show that the beginning of cluster formation takes place at steps with a geometric orientation along the crystal axes <110>. The interaction between cluster and step leads to a restructuring of the surrounding step segments thereby promoting further cluster growth. Well-aligned decorated steps are found to be the nucleation point for higher dimensional growth. Comparing high resolution STM data to DFT calculations we get access to the local structural arrangement of the self-assembled complexes. Taking into account the calculated energies we develop a comprehensive growth model. This work was funded by the DFG - 217133147/SFB 1073, projects C1, C4, C7.