STM induced manipulation of azulene-based molecules and nanostructures: The role of the dipole moment

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Among the different mechanisms that can be used to drive a molecule on a surface by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope at low temperature, we used voltage pulses to move azulene-based single molecules and nanostructures on Au(111). Upon evaporation, the molecules partially cleave and form metallo-organic dimers while single molecules are very scarce, as confirmed by simulations. By applying voltage pulses to the different structures under similar conditions, we observe that only one type of dimer can be controllably driven on the surface, which has the lowest dipole moment of all investigated structures. Experiments under different bias and tip height conditions reveal that the electric field is the main driving force of the directed motion. We discuss the different observed structures and their movement properties with respect to their dipole moment and charge distribution on the surface.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)24471-24476
Number of pages6
JournalNanoscale
Volume12
Issue number48
Publication statusPublished - 28 Dec 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 33305772
ORCID /0000-0001-9607-8715/work/142252622

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

ASJC Scopus subject areas