Berlin 2024 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 15: Organic Molecules on Inorganic Substrates II: Electronic, Optical and other Properties
O 15.10: Talk
Monday, March 18, 2024, 17:15–17:30, MA 043
Imaging single protonated molecules — •Jimin Ham1, Xu Wu1, Klaus Kern1,2, and Kelvin Anggara1 — 1MPI for Solid State Research, Stuttgart — 2Institute de Physique, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Protonation of molecules is one of the most fundamental events in chemistry. Direct study of protonated molecules, however, has remained challenging due to their transient existence, short lifetimes, low abundance, and high reactivities. These characteristics cause studies of protonated molecules to be intractable for ensemble-averaged analytical methods. Here we circumvented these challenges by direct imaging of protonated molecules at single molecule level. We accomplish this by soft landing protonated molecules on surfaces using the Electrospray Ion Beam Deposition (ESIBD) technique, followed by direct imaging using Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). By imaging single protonated molecules, we are able to observe directly the effect of protonation on molecular motions and electronic structures, as well as the structure of proton-catalyzed reaction intermediates. These findings open new avenues to explore proton-mediated chemical effects at the ultimate single molecule level.
Keywords: Protonated molecules; Electrospray ion beam deposition; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Dynamics of charged molecules; Proton-catalyzed reaction