Constructing an Array of Anchored Single-Molecule Rotors on Gold Surfaces
(Result of the month 01/2010)
(a) STM image of single (t-Bu)4-ZnPc molecular rotor located at the elbow position, showing a foldingfan feature. Scanning parameters: U = - 2 V, I = 0.05 nA. (b) Tunneling current versus time measured on the molecular rotor. The arrow and spot in (a) indicate the position where the I-t spectroscopy was measured. (c) One molecule at the elbow position, indicated by an arrow, remains stationary when it is attached to two large clusters. Scanning parameters: U = -1.4 V, I = 0.1 nA. (d) The molecule starts rotating when it is isolated from the two large clusters. Scanning parameters: U = -1:4 V, I = 0.1 nA.
Molecular rotors with a fixed off-center rotation axis have been observed for single tetra-tert-butyl zinc phthalocyanine molecules on an Au(111) surface by a scanning tunneling microscope at LN2 temperature. Experiments and first-principles calculations reveal that we introduce gold adatoms at the surface as the stable contact of the molecule to the surface. An off-center rotation axis is formed by a chemical bonding between a nitrogen atom of the molecule and a gold adatom at the surface, which gives them a welldefined contact while the molecules can have rotation-favorable configurations. Furthermore, these singlemolecule rotors self-assemble into large scale ordered arrays on Au(111) surfaces. A fixed rotation axis off center is an important step towards the eventual fabrication of molecular motors or generators.
(a) STM image of large scale ordered array of single (t-Bu)4-ZnPc molecular rotors on the reconstructed Au(111) surface.
(b) High-resolution STM image of single molecular rotors showing a "folding-fan" feature. The molecular rotors at two different elbow sites show different features due to the modulation by corrugation ridges. Scanning parameters: U = -1.3 V, I = 0.07 nA. Images were taken at 78 K.
(a) STM image of the reconstructed Au (111) surface. Scanning parameters: U = -1.2 V, I = 0.05 nA.
(b)–(d) STM images of molecular rotors located in (b) fcc regions, (c) hcp regions, and (d) on corrugation ridges.

Scanning parameters:
(b) U = -1:8 V, I = 0.05 nA;
(c) U = -1.0 V, I = 0.05 nA;
(d) U = -1.8 V, I = 0.05 nA.
(e) A proposed model for the molecular rotation in the fcc region.
The gold adatom is highlighted in red. The bottom-left STM image in (e) shows a typical molecular rotor in the fcc region. For the five small STM images, the cross signs represent the intermediate states for the molecular rotation, with the solid circles representing the tert-butyl groups. (f ) Schematic STM images of molecular rotors with rotation angles of 120° and 360°. The red solid circles represent the bright lobes for stationary single molecules. The blue empty circle represents the rotation center.


Authors:
L. Gao,1 Q. Liu,1 Y.Y. Zhang,1 N. Jiang,1 H. G. Zhang,1 Z. H. Cheng,1 W. F. Qiu,2 S. X. Du,1 Y. Q. Liu,2 W. A. Hofer,3 and H.-J. Gao1

Institutes:
1 Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
2 Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
3 Surface Science Research Centre, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, United Kingdom

Publication(s)
Citation(s) Gao at al, PRL 101, 197209 (2008)

 
This result has been obtained with :
LT STM

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