Adsorption characteristics of Er3N@C80on W(110) and Au(111) studied via scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy

• Main Authors: Sebastian Schimmel, Zhixiang Sun, Danny Baumann, Denis Krylov, Nataliya Samoylova, Alexey Popov, Bernd Büchner, Christian Hess
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beilstein-Institut 2017-05-01
• Series: Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
• Subjects: adsorption; Au(111); Er3N@C80; scanning tunnelling microscopy; scanning tunnelling spectroscopy; W(110)
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.8.114

We performed a study on the fundamental adsorption characteristics of Er3N@C80 deposited on W(110) and Au(111) via room temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Adsorbed on W(110), a comparatively strong bond to the endohedral fullerenes inhibited the formation of ordered monolayer islands. In contrast, the Au(111)-surface provides a sufficiently high mobility for the molecules to arrange in monolayer islands after annealing. Interestingly, the fullerenes modify the herringbone reconstruction indicating that the molecule–substrate interaction is of considerable extent. Investigations concerning the electronic structure of Er3N@C80/Au(111) reveals spatial variations dependent on the termination of the Au(111) at the interface.