On surface molecular chemistry using Scanning Probe Microscopy
The recent progress in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Tunneling
Microscopy (STM) with functionalized tips provided unprecedented atomic
resolution of single organic molecules [1,2]. Here we will provide insight into
origin of the high-resolution AFM/STM images [3,4]. We will show that the highresolution images contain valuable information going beyond simple imaging of
chemical structure. We will present a new experimental protocol, which provides
straightforward way to resolve the local electrostatic field of a single molecule by
means of AFM with functionalized tips with unprecedented resolution. In next, we
will demonstrate the possibility to control molecular chirality through the
chemical reactions. Namely, we will report on a novel chemical transformation of
chirality of individual molecules into the adsorption-induced chirality of flat
molecules. This results in the formation of a new type of organic-inorganic chiral
surfaces with the globally broken mirror symmetry. The chemical transformation
was analyzed at the ultimate single-molecule level utilizing high-resolution
AFM/STM microscopy techniques supported by theoretical DFT simulations.
[1] L. Gross et al., Science 325,1110 (2009).
[2] C. Weiss et al., Phys.Rev.Lett. 105, 086103 (2010).
[3] P. Hapala et al., Phys. Rev. B 90, 085421 (2014).
[4] P. Hapala et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 226101 (2014).