Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 74: Organic Molecules at Surfaces 5: Molecular Switches
O 74.2: Talk
Thursday, September 8, 2022, 15:15–15:30, S054
Uni-directional rotation of molecular motors on Cu(111) — •Monika Schied1,2, Deborah Prezzi3, Dongdong Liu4, Peter Jacobson1,5, Elisa Molinari3, James M. Tour4, and Leonhard Grill1 — 1University of Graz, Austria — 2Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy — 3Nanoscience Institute of CNR, Italy — 4Rice University, USA — 5The University of Queensland, Australia
Artificial molecular motors that convert external energy into controlled motion have seen great developments in the last decades [1]. While many studies exist in solution, little is known how such functional molecules behave on a surface. However, such a solid support can be advantageous as it offers fixed points of reference as well as confinement in two dimensions, making it easier to study the directionality of their motion.
We have used low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) to study single molecules with a so-called Feringa motor [2,3] on a Cu(111) surface. It was found that rotations of individual molecules can be induced over rather long distances by voltage pulses with the STM tip. Importantly, these rotations show high directionality (clockwise or anticlockwise), which will be discussed in view of their specific chemical structure and adsorption.
[1] W. R. Browne and B. L. Feringa, Nat. Nanotech. 1, 25 (2006)
[2] T. Kudernac et al., Nature 479, 208 (2011)
[3] A. Saywell et al., ACS Nano 10, 10945 (2016)