Bistability loss as key feature in azobenzene (non-)switching on metal surfaces

Abstract

Coinage metal adsorbed azobenzene is investigated as prototypical molecular switch. It is shown that switching capabilities are not just lost due to excited state quenching, but already due to changes in the ground state energetics. Electron demanding coadsorbates are suggested as strategy to regain the switching function.

8 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Assessing computationally efficient isomerization dynamics: Delta-SCF density-functional theory study of azobenzene molecular switching

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• Thermal and electronic fluctuations of flexible adsorbed molecules: Azobenzene on Ag(111)
• Global Structure Search for Molecules on Surfaces: Efficient Sampling with Curvilinear Coordinates
• Computational design of metal-supported molecular switches: Transient ion formation during light- and electron-induced isomerisation of azobenzene