C$_{60}$ as an Atom Trap to Capture Co Adatoms

Peng Yang (1, 2) , Dongzhe Li (3, 4) , Vincent Repain (1) , Cyril Chacon (1) , Yann Girard (1) , Sylvie Rousset (1) , Alexander Smogunov (4, 3) , Yannick J. Dappe (3) , Cyrille Barreteau (5, 3) , Jérôme Lagoute (1)

1 MPQ (UMR_7162) - Laboratoire Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques
2 Xidian University
3 SPEC - UMR3680 - Service de physique de l'état condensé
4 GMT - Groupe Modélisation et Théorie
5 DTU Nanotech

C$_{60}$ molecules were used to trap Co adatoms and clusters on a Au(111) surface using atomic/molecular manipulation with a scanning tunneling microscope. Two manipulation pathways (successive integration of single Co atoms in one molecule or direct integration of a Co cluster) were found to efficiently allow the formation of complexes mixing a C$_{60}$ molecule with Co atoms. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals the robustness of the π states of C$_{60}$ that are preserved after Co trapping. Scanning tunneling microscopy images and density functional theory calculations reveal that dissociated Co clusters of up to nine atoms can be formed at the molecule−substrate interface. These results open new perspectives in the interactions between metal adatoms and molecules, for applications in metal−organic devices.

Domains: Physics [physics]; Mathematics [math]

Peng Yang, Dongzhe Li, Vincent Repain, Cyril Chacon, Yann Girard, et al.. C$_{60}$ as an Atom Trap to Capture Co Adatoms. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2015, 119, pp.6873-6879. ⟨10.1021/jp512723c⟩. ⟨cea-01366498⟩