Probing weak chemical interactions of metal surface atoms with CO-terminated AFM tips identifies molecular adsorption sites.

ABSTRACT: Metal surfaces play a key role in on-surface synthesis as they provide a two-dimensional catalytic reaction environment that stimulates activation, diffusion, and coupling of molecular reactants. Fundamental understanding of the interactions between surface atoms and reactants is very limited but would enable controlling on-surface reaction processes for designing functional nanomaterials. Here, we measure chemical interactions between CO-terminated tips and Cu(111), Ag(111), and Au(111) surface atoms in all spatial directions with picometer resolution via low temperature atomic force microscopy. This allows a site-specific quantification of the weak chemical interactions of densely packed metal surface atoms and provides a picture of the potential energy landscape experienced by adsorbed

SUBMITTER: Tschakert J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12374979 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature