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Updated: Apr 19, 2026

Microscopic Visualization of Porous Nanographenes Synthesized through a Combination of Solution and On-Surface Chemistry
Published on: March 4, 2021
Adatoms underneath single porphyrin molecules on Au(111)
Johannes Mielke1, Felix Hanke, Maike V Peters
1Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max-Planck Society , Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
The adsorption of porphyrin derivatives on a Au(111) surface was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy at low temperatures in combination with density functional theory calculations. Different molecular appearances were found and could be assigned to the presence of single gold adatoms bonded by a coordination bond underneath the molecular monolayer, causing a characteristic change of the electronic structure of the molecules. Moreover, this interpretation could be confirmed by manipulation experiments of individual molecules on and off a single gold atom. This study provides a detailed understanding of the role of metal adatoms in surface-molecule bonding and anchoring and of the appearance of single molecules, and it should prove relevant for the imaging of related molecule-metal systems.
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