During the last few years, there has been an explosion of interest and activity in the field of nanoscale vibrational spectroscopy. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) combines the ability of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to resolve atomic scale surface features with the single molecule chemical sensitivity of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The goal is to understand and manipulate chemistry on the nanometer length scale using the properties of the collective electronic excitations in noble metal nanostructures, known as localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR).

Two recent advances in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) TERS which illustrate the power of this nanoscale vibrational spectroscopy will be presented. First, our current understanding of the adsorbate-surface and adsorbate-plasmon interactions involved in the UHV-TERS of the N-N'-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-perylene-3,4,9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PDI) on various single crystal surfaces (Ag(111), Ag(100), Cu(111), and Au(111)) which probed by a Ag tip will be discussed. This study demonstrates that TERS is a substrate general technique. Additionally, the LSPR of the Ag tip-Ag sample junction is as broad as a Ag nanoparticle dimer system. Therefore, TERS on Ag tip-Ag sample systems is also excitation general.

Understanding the dehydrogenation and dehalogenation reactions of molecular entities on surface is essential for the controlled synthesis of carbon-based nanostructures. Delicately designed precursor molecules exploit the potential of selective activation of functional groups and templating effect of substrates and promise the fabrication of nanoscale building blocks with desired geometries. Here we employed a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and theoretical calculation to elucidate self-assembling of halogen-containing molecules on metal surfaces. Metallo-supramolecular assemblies are constructed via coordination bonding between metal atoms and halogen ligands. The spontaneously formed molecular scaffolds are further explored to program the structure and chemical composition of hybrid carbon architecture. We reveal the hierarchic reaction pathway of a few aromatic derivatives in an effort toward realizing carbon-based nanostructures with controllable electronic, optical and magnetic properties.

Although the cyclodehydrogenation is well known as a key step in the bottom-up preparation of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), the mechanism is still unclear. To understand and control the cyclodehydrogenation can help to create novel intraribbon heterojunctions of GNR-based structures. Here, we demonstrate the conversion of quasi-free-standing polymer chains to GNRs induced by thermal annealing and manipulations with a scanning tunneling microscope tip. Combined with the density functional theory calculations, a domino-like fashion and the hole-involved cyclodehydrogenation are proposed for the thermal annealing and tip-induced conversion of polymer chains to GNRs, respectively. Our results provide the first direct experimental evidence that the catalytic effect of the Au substrate is critical to the thermal-induced cyclodehydrogenation in forming bottom-up GNRs. Strongly localized density of states in the short GNR segment of the polymer–GNR herterojunction is observed. The significant confinement of the charge carriers is attributed to the big bandgap difference between the two segments of the heterojunction. Our findings might pave new ways to form GNR-based intraribbon heterojunctions by controlling the cyclodehydrogenation during bottom-up preparation, and shed light to the potential applications of the polymer–GNR herterojunctions.

This research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and partially supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US DOE.

Atomic resolution and manipulation is routinely achieved by both scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) nowadays. Despite of large activities in development of the scanning probe technique, still some challenges remain, namely the chemical analysis on atomic and molecular level.

First, we will present a novel method extending further the chemical analysis [1,2] by means of AFM. Namely we will discuss a new methodology to measure Pauling’s electronegativity of individual atoms on surfaces using AFM. Electronegativity has been an important concept in chemistry, originally defined by Pauling as “the power of an atom in a molecule to attract electrons to itself”. However, its experimental determination on individual surface atoms was not possible so far.

Second, we will discuss the origin of sub molecular AFM/STM resolution acquired with functionalized tips. We will show that the electrostatic force can substantially affect the sub molecular contrast. We will show, that the electrostatic potential on a single molecule can be mapped out with sub molecular resolution.

[1] Y. Sugimoto et al Nature 446, 64 (2007)

[2] M. Setvin et al ACS Nano 6, 6969 (2012)

[3] P. Hapala et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 226101 (2014)

[4] J. vad der Lit et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 096102 (2016)

[5] P. Hapala et al. Nature comm. (accepted 2016)