Nitrogen substitution impacts organic-metal interface energetics

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.94.155426

Authors: Ao Yang (Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM) and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials) , Antoni Franco Canellas (University of Tuebingen) , Mikio Sato (3Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science) , Bin Wang , Rong-bin Wang (Soochow University; Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) , Harunobu Koike (Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science) , Ingo Salzmann (Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) , Pardeep Kumar Thakur (Diamond Light Source) , Tien-lin Lee (Diamond Light Source) , Lijia Liu (Soochow University) , Satoshi Kera (Institute for molecular science) , Alexander Gerlach (University of Tuebingen) , Kaname Kanai (Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science) , Jian Fan (Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM) and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University) , Frank Schreiber (University of Tuebingen) , Steffen Duhm (Soochow University)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Physical Review B , VOL 94

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2016
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 9523

Abstract: We investigated the structural and electronic properties of vacuum sublimed 7,8,15,16-tetraazaterrylene (TAT) thin films on Au(111), Ag(111), and Cu(111) substrates using inverse photoemission spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), and the x-ray standing wave (XSW) technique. The LEED reveals a flat adsorption geometry of the monolayer TAT on these three substrates, which is in accordance with the XSW results. The molecules are slightly distorted in monolayers on all three substrates with the nitrogen atoms having smaller averaged bonding distances than the carbon atoms. On Ag(111) and Cu(111), chemisorption with a net electron transfer from the substrate to the adsorbate takes place, as evidenced by UPS and XPS. Combining these results, we gain full insight into the correlation between electronic properties and interface geometry.

Journal Keywords: XSW, metal single crystals, UPS, charge transfer, adsorption geometry

Subject Areas: Physics, Chemistry, Materials


Instruments: I09-Surface and Interface Structural Analysis

Other Facilities: BESSY II