Stressed C60 layers on Au(001)

Vacancy patterning and patterning vacancies: controlled self-assembly of fullerenes on metal surfaces

A density functional theory study accounting for van der Waals interactions reveals the potential of metal surface vacancies as anchor points for the construction of user-defined 2D patterns of adsorbate molecules via a controlled self-assembly process. Vice versa, energetic criteria indicate the formation of regular adsorbate-induced vacancies after adsorbate self-assembly on clean surfaces. These processes are exemplified by adsorbing C₆₀ fullerene on Al(111), Au(111), and Be(0001) surfaces with and without single, triple, and septuple atom pits. An analysis of vacancy-adatom formation energetics precedes the study of the adsorption processes.

Geometric and Electronic Structure of Fullerene Film Growth as a Function of Coverage

We have employed scanning tunneling microscopy at room and low temperature, i.e. 300, 50, and 5 K, to study the epitaxy and growth of fullerene films on the noble-metal surfaces Ag(110) and Au(110). Initial island growth occurs on terrace sites away from substrate step edges. Particularly at low temperatures where the rotational and vibrational movements of the fullerene molecules are frozen in, different intra-molecular topographic patterns become visible in ordered films, which are characteristic of particular adsorption sites. Complementary tunneling spectroscopy and direct and inverse photoemission measurements reveal distinct differences between the first adsorbed monolayer and additional fullerene layers indicating differences in bonding and charge transfer. Our results are compared to theoretical calculations.

Structural and cohesive properties of a C60 monolayer

We have explored the cohesive property of a monolayer of C (60) molecules (ML- C (60)) by means of total energy calculations with the density-functional theory. The total energy curve calculated for ML- C (60), which is obtained as a function of the lattice constant, has two minima and shows a hysteresis in the compression-tension stroke. These two minima in energy correspond to the different structural phases of ML- C (60): one is a monomer phase and the other is a polymer one. The energy band gap within the framework of the local density approximation varies from 1 eV (semiconducting phase) to 0 eV (metallic phase) with external pressure and without structural transition from the monomer phase to the polymer one.

Temperature-dependent fermi gap opening in the c(6x4)-C60/Ag(100) two-dimensional superstructure

High-resolution angle-integrated photoemission of one monolayer of C (60) chemisorbed on Ag(100) shows the reversible opening of a gap at the Fermi level at temperatures 25< or =T< or =300 K. The gap reaches a maximum value of approximately 10 meV at T< or =70 K. This finding is the first evidence of an electronic phase transition in C60 monolayers and has implications on the ongoing debate about surface superconductivity in C60-based bulk materials.