IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Organic Films and Devices Thursday Sessions
       Session OF+SS-ThP

Paper OF+SS-ThP3
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Investigation of the Self-Assembly of Photochromic Molecules on Au(111)

Thursday, November 1, 2001, 5:30 pm, Room 134/135

Session: Molecular Aspects of Organic Films Poster Session
Presenter: S. Mannsfeld, TU Dresden, Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Germany
Authors: T. Fritz, TU Dresden, Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Germany
S. Mannsfeld, TU Dresden, Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Germany
T.W. Canzler, TU Dresden, Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Germany
S. Stumpf, TU Dresden, Institut fuer Anorganische Chemie, Germany
K. Gloe, TU Dresden, Institut fuer Anorganische Chemie, Germany
K. Leo, TU Dresden, Institut fuer Angewandte Photophysik, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
The self-organization of photochromic molecules on Au(111) surfaces has been investigated by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM). Self-assembly films of the organic molecule 6-[4-(phenylazo)phenoxy]hexane-1-thiol (AzoC@sub 6@) have been prepared by immersion of epitaxial gold films on mica in ethanolic solutions (1mmol) for 24 h up to 72 h. High-resolution STM images, using a NanoScope III in air, reveal the ordered growth of AzoC@sub 6@ in several domains, typically 20 nm in size. A detailed structural analysis was performed on drift-corrected images. In contrast to literature results where a so-called bundle model was suggested which can hardly explain the growth of rather extended domains, we will show evidence that a molecular lattice is formed which is commensurate with the Au(111) surface lattice. The two-dimensional unit cell contains two AzoC@sub 6@ molecules. All experimental findings are compared to theoretical calculations, based on a geometric lattice match algorithm.