Berlin 2024 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 65: Poster: Molecular Nanostructures on Surfaces

O 65.10: Poster

Mittwoch, 20. März 2024, 18:00–20:00, Poster C

Control of single-molecule motion on Ag(111) surface — •Donato Civita, Julia Lanz, and Leonhard Grill — Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Graz, Austria

The motion of molecules adsorbed on surfaces is fundamental for molecular collisions and reactions at surfaces, for instance in heterogeneous catalysis, on-surface polymerization or the bottom-up construction functional nanostructures. On atomically flat surfaces, the motion of adsorbed molecules can be controlled by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) manipulation. However, this technique was so far restricted to few nanometres of dislocation distances and limited control on the dislocation pathway. The study of single dibromo-terfluorene (DBTF) molecules on a Ag(111) surface has revealed surprisingly large distances of more than 100 nm that can be achieved with STM manipulation with picometre precision [1]. The motion of single DBTF molecules is strictly confined to one atomic row of the flat surface, rendering this system highly suitable for the study of molecular dynamics.

Here, we show that the large spatial extension of DBTF motion, and its one-dimensional confinement allow the direct measurement of the molecule traveling time with microsecond precision. Thus, we use this direct measurement to study the molecular velocity in different surface areas and in dependence of the local surroundings that appear to substantially affect the molecular dynamics.

[1] D. Civita, M. Kolmer, G. J. Simpson, A.-P. Li, S. Hecht, L. Grill, Control of long-distance motion of single molecules on a surface, Science, Vol. 370, Issue 6519, pp. 957-960 (2020).

Keywords: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy; STM manipulation; Single-molecule motion; Molecular dynamics; Velocity measurement of single molecules