Physical Review Letters, 105 (2010) 266102
We report on the formation of a metal-molecule complex that can be used as a molecular switch. Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscope, a covalent bond was formed reversibly between a gold atom and a perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride molecule supported by a thin insulating film. The bonded and the nonbonded state of the complex were found to be associated with different charge states, and the switching between the two states was accompanied by a considerable change in the tunneling current. Atomic force microscopy molecular imaging was employed to determine precisely the atomic structure of the complex, and the experimental results were corroborated by density functional theory calculations.
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1IBM Research-Zurich, 8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland
2Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany
3Surface Science Research Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, United Kingdom
4Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden
