Photoinduced Dehydrogenation of a Single Molecule Adsorbed on a Surface

ORAL

Abstract

Photons can be coupled with tunneling electrons to induce a chemical reaction of a molecule adsorbed on a surface in the junction of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Here, by using the combination of a low temperature STM with a femtosecond laser, we demonstrated the control and characterization of the dehydrogenation in a unimolecular reaction with atomic scale resolution. A single acetylene (HCCH) molecule can be sequentially dehydrogenated into ethynyl (CCH) and dicarbon (CC). While both reaction steps can be induced by tunneling electrons, only the C-H bond activation of the ethynyl could also be proceeded by the coupling of the tunneling electron with a photon. These studies provide us new insights into single molecule photochemistry with atomic scale precision.

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Presenters

  • Likun Wang

    Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine

Authors

  • Likun Wang

    Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine

  • Siyu Chen

    Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Physics, Univ of California - Irvine

  • Shaowei Li

    Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Physics, Univ of California - Irvine

  • Wilson Ho

    Physics and Astronomy, Univ of California - Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Univ of California - Irvine, Physics, Univ of California - Irvine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Univ of California - Irvine