Visualization of the Borazine Core of B3N3-Doped Nanographene by STM

Axel Belser; Katharina Greulich; Peter Grüninger; Holger F Bettinger; Heiko Peisert; Thomas Chassé

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c02324

Visualization of the Borazine Core of B₃N₃-Doped Nanographene by STM

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Apr 22;12(16):19218-19225. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c02324. Epub 2020 Apr 8.

Authors

Axel Belser¹, Katharina Greulich¹, Peter Grüninger^{1

2}, Holger F Bettinger^{2

3}, Heiko Peisert¹, Thomas Chassé^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 18, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
² Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 18, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
³ Center for Light-Matter Interaction, Sensors & Analytics (LISA+) at the University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 18, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.

PMID: 32223213
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c02324

Abstract

Electronic interface properties and the initial growth of hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene with a borazine core (BN-HBC) on Au(111) have been studied by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). A weak, but non-negligible, interaction between BN-HBC and Au(111) was found at the interface. Both hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) and BN-HBC molecules form well-defined monolayers. The different contrast in STM images of HBC and BN-HBC at different tunneling voltages with submolecular resolution can be ascribed to differences in the local density of states (LDOS). At positive and negative tunneling voltages, STM images reproduce the distribution of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (HOMO and LUMO) as determined by density functional theory (DFT) calculations very well.

Keywords: BN-doped hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene; density functional theory; hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene; interaction; low-energy electron diffraction; photoemission; scanning tunneling microscopy.