By atom manipulation we performed on-surface chemical reactions of a single molecule on a multilayer insulating lm using non-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM). The single-electron sensitivity of AFM allows following the addition of single electrons to the molecule and the investigation of the reaction products. By performing a novel strategy based on long lived doubly-charged states a single molecule is fragmented. The fragmentation can be reverted by again changing the charge-state of the system, characterizing a reversible reaction. The experimental results in addition with density-functional theory provide insight into the charge-states of the different products and reaction pathways. Similar molecular systems could be used as charge-transfer units and to induce reversible chemical reactions.
PACS numbers: 68.37.Ps, 68.35.-p, 68.43.-h, 82.30.Qt, 82.37.Gk
Key Words: Perez, Guitian, Pena
By: Shadi Fatayer, Nikolaj Moll, Sara Collazos, Dolores Pérez, Enrique Guitián, Diego Peña, Leo Gross, Gerhard Meyer
Published in: Physical Review Letters, volume 121, (no 22), pages DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.226101 in 2018
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