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Published on: April 24, 2014
Bond-Selected Photodissociation of Single Molecules Adsorbed on Metal Surfaces
Shaowei Li1, Gregory Czap1, Hui Wang1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-4575, USA.
Abstract:
We report the photoassisted activation of selected C─H bonds in individual molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces within the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope. Photons can couple to the C─H bond activation of specific hydrocarbons through a resonant photoassisted tunneling process. The molecule to be activated can be selected by positioning the tip with subangstrom resolution. Furthermore, structural tomography of the molecule and its dissociation products are imaged at different heights by the inelastic tunneling probe. The demonstration of single bond dissociation induced by resonant photoassisted tunneling electrons implies the attainment of atomic scale spatial resolution for bond-selected photochemistry.
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