Abstract
The adsorption of individual acetylene molecules at a Pd(1 1 1) surface has been studied with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at 4.7 K. The adsorbed acetylene molecules appear in the STM images as a combination of a protrusion and a pair of depressions. To determine the adsorption site and configuration of the molecule, we performed rotational manipulation of the molecule by injecting tunneling electrons into the molecule as well as performing atomically resolved STM imaging. The STM images revealed that the molecules have a total of six equivalent adsorption orientations on Pd(1 1 1), indicating three equivalent rotational states on two (both fcc and hcp) 3-fold hollow adsorption sites. From the atomically resolved STM images of the surface with a monatomic step edge, we have distinguished the two types of 3-fold hollow sites and confirmed that the fcc site is more stable than the hcp site at a low temperature.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 19-24 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Surface Science |
| Volume | 587 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 Aug 1 |
| Event | Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Vibrations at Surfaces - Duration: 2004 Jun 6 → 2005 Jun 10 |
Keywords
- Acetylene
- Adsorption site
- Low temperature
- Palladium
- Rotation
- Scanning tunneling microscopy