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Updated: Aug 8, 2025

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters
Published on: January 9, 2014
Directing and Understanding the Translation of a Single Molecule Dipole
Grant J Simpson1, Víctor García-López2, A Daniel Boese3
1Department of Physical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Heinrichstrasse 28, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Abstract:
Understanding the directed motion of a single molecule on surfaces is not only important in the well-established field of heterogeneous catalysis but also for the design of artificial nanoarchitectures and molecular machines. Here, we report how the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) can be used to control the translation direction of a single polar molecule. Through the interaction of the molecular dipole with the electric field of the STM junction, it was found that both translations and rotations of the molecule occur. By considering the location of the tip with respect to the axis of the dipole moment, we can deduce the order in which rotation and translation take place. While the molecule-tip interaction dominates, computational results suggest that the translation is influenced by the surface direction along which the motion takes place.
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