Recent Progress of Imaging Chemical Bonds by Scanning Probe Microscopy: A Review.

Area of Science:

• Surface Science
• Chemistry
• Physics

Background:

• Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has revolutionized organic molecule characterization.
• Bond-resolved imaging by SPM reveals chemical structures and structure-property relationships.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the history and applications of imaging chemical bonds using SPM techniques.
• To highlight advancements in noncontact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) and bond-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (BR-STM).

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on nc-AFM and BR-STM for bond imaging.
• Summarization of techniques for real-space imaging of covalent and noncovalent bonds.

Main Results:

• Detailed history of imaging covalent and intermolecular noncovalent bonds.
• Applications including on-surface synthesis, reaction pathway determination, and molecular configuration identification.
• Examples of artificial molecule generation via tip manipulation.

Conclusions:

• Bond-resolved SPM is an emerging tool for molecule/surface systems.
• Future research should address current technical challenges in SPM techniques.