Tracking chemical bond formation between a metallic probe and a single molecule

COLL 507

John J. Boland, jboland@tcd.ie1, Borislav Naydenov1, Peter Ryan1, and Lucile C. Teague, lucile.teague@nist.gov2. (1) School of Chemistry and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin, Ireland, (2) National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mailstop 8372, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
We present a study that maps out chemical bond formation between a Pt-inked probe and a single 1,3-cyclohexadiene (1,3-CHD) molecule on Si(100). By defining an appropriate tunneling energy window we separate the mechanical and electronic contributions to the current during the approach to contact and bond formation. We show that there are significant forces between the probe and the C=C of the molecule and we track the relaxation of the molecule, the emergence of a chemical bond feature in the LDOS and the quenching of specific molecular vibrations during bond formation. We discuss the application of this method to surface reaction dynamics.
 

Dynamics of Single Atoms, Molecules and Clusters on Surfaces
2:00 PM-5:00 PM, Wednesday, 13 September 2006 Sir Francis Drake -- Renaissance Room, Oral

Division of Colloid & Surface Chemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006