Realizing a Four-Step Molecular Switch in Scanning Tunneling Microscope Manipulation of Single Chlorophyll-a Molecules

Abstract

Single chlorophyll-a molecules, a vital resource for the sustenance of life on Earth, have been investigated by using scanning-tunneling-microscope manipulation and spectroscopy on a gold substrate at 4.6 K. The chlorophyll-a binds on Au(111) via its porphyrin unit while the phytyl-chain is elevated from the surface by a support of four CH3 groups. By injecting tunneling electrons from the STM-tip, we are able to bend the phytyl-chain, which enable switching of four molecular conformations in a controlled manner. Statistical analyses and structural calculations reveal that all reversible switching mechanisms are initiated by a single tunnelling-electron energy-transfer process, which induces bond rotation within the phytyl-chain.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (2)

• STM Single Atom/Molecule Manipulation and Its Application to Nanoscience and Technology
• Single atom extraction by scanning tunneling microscope tip-crash and nanoscale surface engineering

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Multilevel Resistance Switching and Enhanced Spin Transition Temperature in Single Molecule Spin Crossover Nanogap Devices
• Disentangling electron- and electric field-induced ring-closing reactions in a diarylethene derivative on Ag(111)
• Tunneling electron induced rotation of a copper phthalocyanine molecule on Cu(111)
• A single hydrogen molecule as an intensity chopper in an electrically-driven plasmonic nanocavity
• Dynamical bi-stability of single-molecule junctions: A combined experimental/theoretical study of PTCDA on Ag(111)