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