Annealing-induced recovery of indents in thin Au(Fe) bilayer films

• Anna Kosinova,
• Ruth Schwaiger,
• Leonid Klinger and
• Eugen Rabkin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 2088–2099, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.199

• ) on the Au (111) reflection. Cross-section samples were prepared in a dual-beam focused ion beam microscope (FIB; FEI Strata 400-S). Appendix Topography evolution of an axisymmetrical indent by surface diffusion (small slope approximation) To check whether surface diffusion alone can lead to indent

• grains of 40 to 50 nm in diameter; (b) XRD pole figure of the Au {111} reflections from the as-deposited Au(Fe) film. Two orientation variants are distinguishable, rotated by 60° with respect to each other around the [111] surface normal. AFM micrograph of the surface of the as-deposited Au(Fe) film

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques III

• Thilo Glatzel and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1052–1054, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.98

• several transitions in the friction coefficient with increasing load have been found on Au(111) in sulfuric acid electrolyte containing Cu ions by Helmut Baltruschat an co-workers [24] and the stiffness of micron-sized sphere-plate contacts was studied by Diethelm Johannsmann et al. by employing high

First-principles study of the structure of water layers on flat and stepped Pb electrodes

• Xiaohang Lin,
• Ferdinand Evers and
• Axel Groß

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 533–543, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.47

• is even smaller than the one of a water monomer on Ag(111) or Au(111) [29]. This indicates that the water–Pb interaction is rather weak. The hexagonal ice-like structure typically corresponds to the minimum-energy structure for one water layer on a close-packed (111) surface. Figure 1b shows the

Rigid multipodal platforms for metal surfaces

• Michal Valášek,
• Marcin Lindner and
• Marcel Mayor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 374–405, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.34

• (thiols, disulfides), and related moieties on coinage metals, particularly Au(111), Ag, Cu as well as Pt, Hg, GaAs(100) and InP(100) surfaces [23]. Particularly, the sulfur–gold bond is the most popular and the most extensively investigated junction for anchoring organic molecules on metal surfaces

• around 0.8 eV [66], which can lead to the removal of small gold clusters by mechanically removing thiols. The versatility of the thiol anchoring guarantees a dense coverage of both flat and rough gold surfaces. The clean close packed Au(111) surface exhibits a hexagonal arrangement of atoms with a well

• -known long range 22 × √3 herringbone reconstruction with both face-centered cubic (fcc) and hexagonal close-packed (hcp) domains. But the absorption of sulfur-containing molecules (e.g., thiol, disulfide) on Au(111) forms a strong covalent bond and induces significant changes in the surface

Case studies on the formation of chalcogenide self-assembled monolayers on surfaces and dissociative processes

• Yongfeng Tong,
• Tingming Jiang,
• Azzedine Bendounan,
• Makri Nimbegondi Kotresh Harish,
• Angelo Giglia,
• Stefan Kubsky,
• Fausto Sirotti,
• Luca Pasquali,
• Srinivasan Sampath and
• Vladimir A. Esaulov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 263–277, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.24

• described below. Studies of alkane and phenyl thiols do exist and they conclude that an ordered thiol layer is formed [76][77][78]. BDMT evaporative adsorption was studied on Au(111), Cu(100) and Cu(111) surfaces by Alarcón et al. [25][79] using time-of-flight ion scattering [80], which allows the study of

• [102][103][104] and in particular on gold surfaces [56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. They reveal peculiar features and differences in adsorption characteristics. Evaporative assembly of thiophene onto Au(111) by Nambu et al. [56] at low temperatures (around 120 K) shows initial adsorption in a

• at room temperatures it was close to 161 eV. Thus there exist rather different accounts on thiophene adsorption on Au. Studies of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and its derivatives [62] (Figure 6a) on polycrystalline Au, Au(111) and Au nanoparticle (AuNP) surfaces from vapor phase and solution has

Single-molecule magnet behavior in 2,2’-bipyrimidine-bridged dilanthanide complexes

• Wen Yu,
• Frank Schramm,
• Eufemio Moreno Pineda,
• Yanhua Lan,
• Olaf Fuhr,
• Jinjie Chen,
• Hironari Isshiki,
• Wolfgang Wernsdorfer,
• Wulf Wulfhekel and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 126–137, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.15

• ), 2; Dy(III), 3; Ho(III), 4 and Er(III), 5) has been synthesized and characterized. Sublimation of [Tb(tmhd)3]2bpm onto a Au(111) surface leads to the formation of a homogeneous film with hexagonal pattern, which was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The bulk magnetic properties of all

• was measured using AC, DC and micro-SQUID magnetometry techniques. The homo-dinuclear complexes of Dy(III) and Er(III) show single-molecule magnet behavior featuring hysteresis loops. The [Tb(tmhd)3]2bpm was sublimated on Au(111) surfaces and scanning tunneling microscopy results are presented in this

• . The Au(111) single crystal substrate was cleaned with a standard Ar sputtering and annealing process in a separate preparation chamber. After annealing and cooling down to room temperature, the substrate was transferred to a molecule deposition chamber and was exposed to a molecule flow of about 0.01

High electronic couplings of single mesitylene molecular junctions

• Yuki Komoto,
• Shintaro Fujii,
• Tomoaki Nishino and
• Manabu Kiguchi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2431–2437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.251

• models. Experimental Conductance measurements were performed using an electrochemical scanning tunnelling microscope (Nanoscope V, Bruker, Santa Barbara, CA). Au(111) substrate was prepared by thermal deposition of Au on cleaved mica surface at 625–675 K. The Au substrate was cleaned by flame annealing

Sub-monolayer film growth of a volatile lanthanide complex on metallic surfaces

• Hironari Isshiki,
• Jinjie Chen,
• Kevin Edelmann and
• Wulf Wulfhekel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2412–2416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.248

• , Germany 10.3762/bjnano.6.248 Abstract We deposited a volatile lanthanide complex, tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)terbium(III), onto metal surfaces of Cu(111), Ag(111) and Au(111) in vacuum and observed well-ordered sub-monolayer films with low temperature (5 K) scanning tunneling microscopy

• of their derivatives exhibit SMM behavior [15]. It thus might be interesting to investigate Ln(thd)3 with low-temperature STM. In this work, we chose Tb(thd)3 (Tb = terbium) and deposited molecules on Au(111), Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces to explore the transferability of lanthanide molecules onto

• metal surfaces without decomposition. Results and Discussion Figure 2a–f shows STM topographies of Tb(thd)3 deposited on Cu(111), Ag(111) and Au(111), respectively. The imaging parameters are given in the caption. The white arrows indicate the direction, which was determined from images with atomic

Core-level spectra and molecular deformation in adsorption: V-shaped pentacene on Al(001)

• Anu Baby,
• He Lin,
• Gian Paolo Brivio,
• Luca Floreano and
• Guido Fratesi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2242–2251, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.230

• calculated results of XPS and NEXAFS assuming the V-shaped adsorption are in agreement with the experiments. For comparison only a minor bending of the molecule was reported in experimental and theoretical studies of pentacene on Au(111) [16], Cu(110) [17], and Cu(001) [18], while an asymmetric adsorption

Lower nanometer-scale size limit for the deformation of a metallic glass by shear transformations revealed by quantitative AFM indentation

• Arnaud Caron and
• Roland Bennewitz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1721–1732, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.176

• required with a resolution at the level of the relevant structures. First studies of single plasticity events in nanometer scale contacts between a nanometer-sized single asperity and Au(111), (110), and (001) surfaces have been performed by means of interfacial force microscopy (IFM) [5][6]. Indentation

• previous AFM indentation results on crystalline KBr(100) [7] and Cu(100) [8]. The increased pop-in length at higher loads is also in good agreement with nanoindentation results on (111)-oriented fcc-metal surfaces such as Au(111), for which burst-like dislocations activation has been observed [3]. However

Enhanced fullerene–Au(111) coupling in (2√3 × 2√3)R30° superstructures with intermolecular interactions

• Michael Paßens,
• Rainer Waser and
• Silvia Karthäuser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1421–1431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.147

• )R30° superstructures of fullerenes on the Au(111) surface have been studied using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. It is shown that the deposition and growth process of a fullerene monolayer on the Au(111) surface determine the resulting superstructure. The supply of thermal energy is

• addition, hybrid fullerene–Au(111) surface states suggest partly covalent interactions. Keywords: adatom–vacancy mechanism; differential conductance; fullerene; Ising model; scanning tunnelling microscopy; Introduction Monolayers of close-packed fullerenes on metal surfaces belong to one of the most

• –metal interface. First systematic studies of close packed fullerene thin films on Au(111) surfaces using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) were performed by Altman and Colton [8][9][10]. They observed two structural arrangements, the (2√3 × 2√3)R30° and the uniform (7 × 7)R0° superlattices, with the

Electrical characterization of single molecule and Langmuir–Blodgett monomolecular films of a pyridine-terminated oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) derivative

• Henrry M. Osorio,
• Santiago Martín,
• María Carmen López,
• Santiago Marqués-González,
• Simon J. Higgins,
• Richard J. Nichols,
• Paul J. Low and
• Pilar Cea

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1145–1157, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.116

• with several shoulders, indicating again the presence of lateral 2D J-aggregates. Electrical properties of LB films of 1 The electrical properties of monomolecular LB films of 1 deposited on Au(111) as described above were studied using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the “STM touch-to

• reproducibility and reliability of the results. Figure 8 shows a representative I–V curve obtained for a single layer LB film transferred onto Au(111) at a surface pressure of 16 mN·m−1 and recorded under touch-to-contact conditions. The profile of the I–V curve is clearly symmetrical around zero bias and

• a Bunsen burner immediately prior to use. This procedure is known to result in atomically flat Au(111) terraces [118]. The I(s) method was used to determine the single molecule conductance values of 1. For a given set-point current and bias voltage, typically 3,500–4,000 events were observed, but

Closed-loop conductance scanning tunneling spectroscopy: demonstrating the equivalence to the open-loop alternative

• Chris Hellenthal,
• Kai Sotthewes,
• Martin H. Siekman,
• E. Stefan Kooij and
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1116–1124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.113

• ; approximately twice as small as the theoretical value. This leads to an effective barrier of 1 eV; approximately four to five times as small as the theoretical value [30][31]. Measurements performed with different W tips and/or different Au(111) samples yielded similar barrier heights. Despite the fact that the

• mbar. Measurement data was collected on a hydrogen flame-annealed Au(111) sample by using an electrochemically etched W tip. The sample and tip had both been exposed to ultra-high vacuum conditions for several weeks prior to measuring. Spectroscopy traces were acquired by using an RHK IVP-200

Stick–slip behaviour on Au(111) with adsorption of copper and sulfate

• Nikolay Podgaynyy,
• Sabine Wezisla,
• Christoph Molls,
• Shahid Iqbal and
• Helmut Baltruschat

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 820–830, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.85

• found on Au(111) in sulfuric acid electrolyte containing Cu ions when a monolayer (or submonolayer) of Cu is adsorbed. At the corresponding normal loads, a transition to double or multiple slips in stick–slip friction is observed. The stick length in this case corresponds to multiples of the lattice

• friction forces on single crystal electrodes under electrochemical conditions. In [10][11] we investigated the effect of copper under potential deposition (UPD) on Au(111) and Pt(111) on friction and found an increase in friction force after adsorption of a sub- or monolayer of copper. A particularly high

• exerted by the tip. The friction force on UPD copper in presence of chloride is much smaller than in sulfuric acid solution. Upon the adsorption of sulfate ions on Au(111), we observed a considerable increase in friction force [10][13]. Bennewitz, Hausen and Gosvami showed that stick–slip resolution can

Synthesis, characterization, monolayer assembly and 2D lanthanide coordination of a linear terphenyl-di(propiolonitrile) linker on Ag(111)

• Zhi Chen,
• Svetlana Klyatskaya,
• José I. Urgel,
• David Écija,
• Olaf Fuhr,
• Willi Auwärter,
• Johannes V. Barth and
• Mario Ruben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 327–335, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.31

• butadiyne bridge formation via a homocoupling reaction, a clear tendency toward branching-side reactions involving three and four reacting monomers and leading to markedly reduced chemoselectivity is observed [25][26][27][28]. Interestingly, on a Au(111) substrate, the cyclotrimerisation of arylalkynes

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques II

• Thilo Glatzel,
• Ricardo Garcia and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2326–2327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.241

• force microscopy [8] are presented as well as molecular structures such as the self-assembly of multidentate organothiols onto Au(111), which were studied in situ by using scanning probe nanolithography and time-lapse AFM [9]. Patterns of thiol-based self-assembled monolayers for the site-selective

• growth of metal-organic frameworks have been created and analyzed by a nanografting technique by using an AFM as a structuring tool [10]. The effect of Cu intercalation at the interface of self-assembled monolayers and a Au(111)/mica substrate was analyzed by STM [11] as well as the growth behavior of

Localized surface plasmon resonances in nanostructures to enhance nonlinear vibrational spectroscopies: towards an astonishing molecular sensitivity

• Dan Lis and
• Francesca Cecchet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2275–2292, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.237

• substrate (15% of surface coverage) with the same thiophenol SAM (self-assembled monolayer) chemisorbed on a Au(111) monocrystal, the normalized intensity enhancement was estimated to be 21. Actually, a 1.5% NPs surface coverage already led to a significant SFG vibrational signature, which underlines the

Spectroscopic mapping and selective electronic tuning of molecular orbitals in phosphorescent organometallic complexes – a new strategy for OLED materials

• Pascal R. Ewen,
• Jan Sanning,
• Tobias Koch,
• Nikos L. Doltsinis,
• Cristian A. Strassert and
• Daniel Wegner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2248–2258, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.234

• orbitals of Pt(II) complexes adsorbed on Au(111). The analysis showed that the molecules exhibit a peculiar localized strong hybridization that leads to partial depopulation of a dz² orbital, while the ligand orbitals are almost unchanged. We further found that substitution of functional groups at well

• temperatures on submonolayer amounts of various square-planar Pt(II) complexes on a Au(111) single-crystal surface. These complexes coordinate a Pt atom to a tridentate ligand (TL, with substituents R1 and R2) and an ancillary ligand (AL, substituent R3), see Figure 1, and are known to be highly efficient

• complexes show a peculiar site-specific hybridization to the Au(111) substrate that only involves the Pt atom but leaves the ligand orbitals essentially unaltered. We also show that different substituents at particular positions of the molecular structure alter the HOMO and LUMO levels, and we propose a

UHV deposition and characterization of a mononuclear iron(III) β-diketonate complex on Au(111)

• Irene Cimatti,
• Silviya Ninova,
• Valeria Lanzilotto,
• Luigi Malavolti,
• Luca Rigamonti,
• Brunetto Cortigiani,
• Matteo Mannini,
• Elena Magnano,
• Federica Bondino,
• Federico Totti,
• Andrea Cornia and
• Roberta Sessoli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2139–2148, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.223

• , Italy 10.3762/bjnano.5.223 Abstract The adsorption of the sterically hindered β-diketonate complex Fe(dpm)3, where Hdpm = dipivaloylmethane, on Au(111) was investigated by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). The high volatility of the molecule limited

• fragmentation of Fe(dpm)3 upon adsorption on the Au(111) surface. Structural features with intact molecules were only observed for the saturation coverage. An ex situ prepared thick film of the complex was also investigated by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and features typical of high-spin iron(III

• ) in octahedral environment were observed. Keywords: Au(111); β-diketonate complexes; DFT; STM; thin films; UPS; XMCD; XPS; Introduction A renewed interest in mononuclear metal complexes has recently arisen due to the observation that systems of this class can behave as single molecule magnets (SMMs

Fullerenes as adhesive layers for mechanical peeling of metallic, molecular and polymer thin films

• Maria B. Wieland,
• Anna G. Slater,
• Barry Mangham,
• Neil R. Champness and
• Peter H. Beton

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 394–401, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.46

• cycles of sputtering and annealing until a clear herringbone reconstruction pattern could be observed on the Au(111) surface using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). See the Experimental section for more details. Fullerene films with thickness ranging from 5 nm to 100 nm were deposited via sublimation

• gold from the mica as depicted in Figure 1b. For control samples, where the PDMS was directly deposited onto a clean Au(111) sample, the PDMS is peeled off leaving the gold layer intact on the mica, indicating that the adhesive properties arise from the fullerene layer. Similar results are obtained

Nanoscale patterning of a self-assembled monolayer by modification of the molecule–substrate bond

• Cai Shen and
• Manfred Buck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 258–267, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.28

• self-assembled monolayer (SAM) and a Au(111)/mica substrate by underpotential deposition (UPD) is studied as a means of high resolution patterning. A SAM of 2-(4'-methylbiphenyl-4-yl)ethanethiol (BP2) prepared in a structural phase that renders the Au substrate completely passive against Cu-UPD, is

• -modified Au(111) surface with the deposition starting at defects and the UPD proceeding by lateral diffusion of the metal atoms at the SAM–substrate interface. (b) Scheme illustrating the steps in UPD-based patterning. For details see text. Cu-UPD on Au templated by a patterned BP2 SAM. a) Large scale STM

The role of surface corrugation and tip oscillation in single-molecule manipulation with a non-contact atomic force microscope

• Christian Wagner,
• Norman Fournier,
• F. Stefan Tautz and
• Ruslan Temirov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 202–209, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.22

• . Experimental The details of PTCDA lifting experiments have been described previously [3][6][11]. Here we briefly repeat the essential features of the experimental procedure. We lift single PTCDA molecules (cf. inset of Figure 1a) from a Au(111) single crystal surface by using an LT-STM/NC-AFM from CREATEC [3

• corresponding to the Au(111) surface structure and a corrugation amplitude Vc(z) ≈ (2.6/z)7 that decays rapidly with increasing distance to the surface. Since here we aim at a qualitative description, the precise functional form of the corrugation potential is not relevant and we also can assume that the

• the naphthalene units in the simulation still happens 1 Å closer to the surface (compare Figure 1b to Figure 4b). To address the remaining discrepancies, it would be necessary to refine the parameter set describing the interaction of PTCDA with the Au(111) surface. Conclusion In summary, we have

Surface assembly and nanofabrication of 1,1,1-tris(mercaptomethyl)heptadecane on Au(111) studied with time-lapse atomic force microscopy

• Tian Tian,
• Burapol Singhana,
• Lauren E. Englade-Franklin,
• Xianglin Zhai,
• T. Randall Lee and
• Jayne C. Garno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 26–35, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.3

• , Texas 77204-5003, USA 10.3762/bjnano.5.3 Abstract The solution self-assembly of multidentate organothiols onto Au(111) was studied in situ using scanning probe nanolithography and time-lapse atomic force microscopy (AFM). Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) prepared from dilute solutions of multidentate

• robust surface nanopatterns. While the kinetics and mechanisms of film growth of SAMs derived from n-alkanethiols have been well-studied [24][25][26][27][28], analogous scanning probe investigations of the surface self-assembly of tridentate alkanethiols on Au(111) have yet to be reported. Within a

• . Conclusion Using dilute ethanolic solutions, the surface self-assembly of TMMH onto Au(111) was imaged with time-lapse AFM for 6 h. With higher concentration, multilayers of TMMH were produced. Protocols of nanografting and nanoshaving were used to compare the heights of TMMH with n-alkanethiol SAMs using

Adsorption of the ionic liquid [BMP][TFSA] on Au(111) and Ag(111): substrate effects on the structure formation investigated by STM

• Benedikt Uhl,
• Florian Buchner,
• Dorothea Alwast,
• Nadja Wagner and
• R. Jürgen Behm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 903–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.102

• (trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [BMP][TFSA] on the close-packed Ag(111) and Au(111) surfaces by scanning tunneling microscopy, under ultra high vacuum (UHV) conditions in the temperature range between about 100 K and 293 K. At room temperature, highly mobile 2D liquid adsorbate phases were observed on both surfaces. At low

• temperatures, around 100 K, different adsorbed IL phases were found to coexist on these surfaces, both on silver and gold: a long-range ordered (‘2D crystalline’) phase and a short-range ordered (‘2D glass’) phase. Both phases exhibit different characteristics on the two surfaces. On Au(111), the surface

• ions are shown in Figure 1a) comparing adsorption on the close-packed surfaces of Au and Ag. In that comparison, we will make use of new and recently published data [25][26]. In addition to their different chemical nature, these surfaces differ from each other in that the Au(111) surface is

Digging gold: keV He⁺ ion interaction with Au

• Vasilisa Veligura,
• Gregor Hlawacek,
• Robin P. Berkelaar,
• Raoul van Gastel,
• Harold J. W. Zandvliet and
• Bene Poelsema

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 453–460, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.53

• significant sample modifications. We have characterized the changes caused by a focused He+ ion beam at normal incidence to the Au{111} surface as a function of ion fluence and energy. Under the influence of the beam a periodic surface nanopattern develops. The periodicity of the pattern shows a power-law

• in the low 10−9 mbar range. The samples were polycrystalline gold specimens, which are commercially available 200 nm thick Au{111} films on a glass substrate with a Cr interlayer. The textured samples were prepared by hydrogen-flame annealing for 5 min. As a result of the annealing process, grains

• guaranteed tip radius of less than 10 nm, and a typical resonance frequency of 150 kHz. The scan size was 2 × 2 μm2. Results and Discussion Au{111} surface modification We have recorded sequences of images of submicron size to study the evolution of the Au{111} surface under the impact of a focused He+ beam