Structure and dynamics of fullerenes adsorbed on the Au(111) surface

Scanning tunneling microscopy was used to characterize the structure of partial monolayers of C60 and C70 on the Au(111) surface. Both 2√3 × 2√3 R30° and 7 × 7 lattice symmetries were observed for C60 monolayers, in accordance with previous results. For C70 monolayers, structures are observed with rotation angles of 0°, 30°, and 14° with respect to the underlying substrate; we propose a previously unreported √13 × √13 R13.9° lattice structure to explain this last observation. Time sequences of STM images show that while fullerene monolayers are largely stable, molecular motion can be observed on the timescale of minutes or hours. For C60, thermal diffusion is the predominant cause of this motion, and STM perturbation of the sample is negligible. In contrast, C70 is observed to diffuse far more slowly; under normal scanning conditions, tip-induced motion is the major effect.

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