Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential.

ABSTRACT: Scanning probe microscopy can now be used to map the properties of single molecules with intramolecular precision by functionalization of the apex of the scanning probe tip with a single atom or molecule. Here we report on the mapping of the three-dimensional potential between fullerene (C60) molecules in different relative orientations, with sub-Angstrom resolution, using dynamic force microscopy (DFM). We introduce a visualization method which is capable of directly imaging the variation in equilibrium binding energy of different molecular orientations. We model the interaction using both a simple approach based around analytical Lennard-Jones potentials, and with dispersion-force-corrected density functional theory (DFT), and show that the positional variation in the binding energy betw

SUBMITTER: Sweetman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4757755 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature