The role of surface corrugation and tip oscillation in single-molecule manipulation with a non-contact atomic force microscope.

ABSTRACT: Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) plays an important role in the investigation of molecular adsorption. The possibility to probe the molecule-surface interaction while tuning its strength through SPM tip-induced single-molecule manipulation has particularly promising potential to yield new insights. We recently reported experiments, in which 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylic-dianhydride (PTCDA) molecules were lifted with a qPlus-sensor and analyzed these experiments by using force-field simulations. Irrespective of the good agreement between the experiment and those simulations, systematic inconsistencies remained that we attribute to effects omitted from the initial model. Here we develop a more realistic simulation of single-molecule manipulation by non-contact AFM that includes the atomic

SUBMITTER: Wagner C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3943512 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature