Unexpected spontaneous formation of CO clusters on the Au(1 1 1) surface

Peter Maksymovych; John T. Yates

doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2006.01.116

Unexpected spontaneous formation of CO clusters on the Au(1 1 1) surface

Peter Maksymovych, John T. Yates

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at 5 K, we have observed spontaneous formation of clusters between CO molecules adsorbed on the Au(1 1 1) surface. In all the (CO)_n clusters (n = 2-5), the CO molecules are bonded to the nearest-neighbor gold atoms in characteristic arrangements. The CO dimer was found to exhibit an unusual tip-induced motion, where one molecule orbits around its neighbor. The clusters could be translated and manipulated without decomposition using the STM tip. These results demonstrate that the interaction between CO molecules bonded in particular cluster geometries to the nearest-neighbor Au atoms is attractive rather than repulsive as commonly assumed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	473-477
Number of pages	5
Journal	Chemical Physics Letters
Volume	421
Issue number	4-6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2006.01.116
State	Published - Apr 15 2006
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We have benefited from fruitful discussions with D.C. Sorescu, W. Ho and J.K. Nørskov. We thank the W.M. Keck Foundation for supporting this work in the W.M. Keck Center for Molecular Electronics located in the Surface Science Center. We also acknowledge NEDO (Japan) for financial support.

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title = "Unexpected spontaneous formation of CO clusters on the Au(1 1 1) surface",

abstract = "Using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at 5 K, we have observed spontaneous formation of clusters between CO molecules adsorbed on the Au(1 1 1) surface. In all the (CO)n clusters (n = 2-5), the CO molecules are bonded to the nearest-neighbor gold atoms in characteristic arrangements. The CO dimer was found to exhibit an unusual tip-induced motion, where one molecule orbits around its neighbor. The clusters could be translated and manipulated without decomposition using the STM tip. These results demonstrate that the interaction between CO molecules bonded in particular cluster geometries to the nearest-neighbor Au atoms is attractive rather than repulsive as commonly assumed.",

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N2 - Using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at 5 K, we have observed spontaneous formation of clusters between CO molecules adsorbed on the Au(1 1 1) surface. In all the (CO)n clusters (n = 2-5), the CO molecules are bonded to the nearest-neighbor gold atoms in characteristic arrangements. The CO dimer was found to exhibit an unusual tip-induced motion, where one molecule orbits around its neighbor. The clusters could be translated and manipulated without decomposition using the STM tip. These results demonstrate that the interaction between CO molecules bonded in particular cluster geometries to the nearest-neighbor Au atoms is attractive rather than repulsive as commonly assumed.

AB - Using the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at 5 K, we have observed spontaneous formation of clusters between CO molecules adsorbed on the Au(1 1 1) surface. In all the (CO)n clusters (n = 2-5), the CO molecules are bonded to the nearest-neighbor gold atoms in characteristic arrangements. The CO dimer was found to exhibit an unusual tip-induced motion, where one molecule orbits around its neighbor. The clusters could be translated and manipulated without decomposition using the STM tip. These results demonstrate that the interaction between CO molecules bonded in particular cluster geometries to the nearest-neighbor Au atoms is attractive rather than repulsive as commonly assumed.

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IS - 4-6

ER -

Unexpected spontaneous formation of CO clusters on the Au(1 1 1) surface

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