Adsorption and reversible conformational change of a thiophene based molecule on Au(111)

We present a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope investigation of a prochiral thiophene-based molecule that self-assembles forming islands with different domains on the Au(111) surface. In the domains, two different conformations of the single molecule are observed, depending on a slight rotation of two adjacent bromothiophene groups. Using voltage pulses from the tip, single molecules can be switched between the two conformations. The electronic states have been measured with scanning tunneling spectroscopy, showing that the electronic resonances are mainly localized at the same positions in both conformations. Density-functional theory calculations support the experimental results. Furthermore, we observe that on Ag(111), only one configuration is present and therefore the switching effect is suppressed.