Multi-Orbital Charge Transfer into Nonplanar Cycloarenes Revealed with CO-Functionalized Tips

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Main Authors: Haags, Anja, Reichmann, Alexander, Ruan, Zilin, Fan, Qitang, Egger, Larissa, Kirschner, Hans, Naumann, Tim, Werner, Simon, Kleykamp, Olaf, Martinez-Castro, Jose, Lüpke, Felix, Bocquet, François C., Kumpf, Christian, Soubatch, Serguei, Gottwald, Alexander, Koller, Georg, Ramsey, Michael G., Richter, Mathias, Sundermeyer, Jörg, Puschnig, Peter, Gottfried, J. Michael, Tautz, F. Stefan, Wenzel, Sabine
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Haags, Anja
Reichmann, Alexander
Ruan, Zilin
Fan, Qitang
Egger, Larissa
Kirschner, Hans
Naumann, Tim
Werner, Simon
Kleykamp, Olaf
Martinez-Castro, Jose
Lüpke, Felix
Bocquet, François C.
Kumpf, Christian
Soubatch, Serguei
Gottwald, Alexander
Koller, Georg
Ramsey, Michael G.
Richter, Mathias
Sundermeyer, Jörg
Puschnig, Peter
Gottfried, J. Michael
Tautz, F. Stefan
Wenzel, Sabine
author_facet Haags, Anja
Reichmann, Alexander
Ruan, Zilin
Fan, Qitang
Egger, Larissa
Kirschner, Hans
Naumann, Tim
Werner, Simon
Kleykamp, Olaf
Martinez-Castro, Jose
Lüpke, Felix
Bocquet, François C.
Kumpf, Christian
Soubatch, Serguei
Gottwald, Alexander
Koller, Georg
Ramsey, Michael G.
Richter, Mathias
Sundermeyer, Jörg
Puschnig, Peter
Gottfried, J. Michael
Tautz, F. Stefan
Wenzel, Sabine
contents On-surface synthesis has allowed for the tuneable preparation of numerous molecular systems with variable properties. Recently, we demonstrated the highly selective synthesis of kekulene (>99%) on Cu(111) and isokekulene (92%) on Cu(110) from the same molecular precursor (Ruan et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, e202509932). Scanning tunneling microscopy with CO-functionalized tips can identify the single molecules on the basis of their geometric structure at a low coverage on Cu(110), but it also detects complex features due to electronic contributions close to the Fermi energy. Here, we investigate the origin of these features by simulating STM images based on a weighted sum of multiple molecular orbitals, for which we employ weights based on the calculated molecular-orbital projected density of states. This allows for an experimental confirmation of charge transfer from the surface into multiple formerly unoccupied molecular orbitals for single molecules of kekulene as well as isokekulene in its two nonplanar adsorption configurations. In comparison, the area-integrating photoemission orbital tomography technique confirms the charge transfer as well as the high selectivity for the formation of a full monolayer of mainly isokekulene on Cu(110). Our STM-based approach is applicable to a wide range of adsorbed molecular systems and specifically also suited for strongly interacting surfaces, nonplanar molecules, and such molecules which can only be prepared at extremely low yields.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_00736
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multi-Orbital Charge Transfer into Nonplanar Cycloarenes Revealed with CO-Functionalized Tips
Haags, Anja
Reichmann, Alexander
Ruan, Zilin
Fan, Qitang
Egger, Larissa
Kirschner, Hans
Naumann, Tim
Werner, Simon
Kleykamp, Olaf
Martinez-Castro, Jose
Lüpke, Felix
Bocquet, François C.
Kumpf, Christian
Soubatch, Serguei
Gottwald, Alexander
Koller, Georg
Ramsey, Michael G.
Richter, Mathias
Sundermeyer, Jörg
Puschnig, Peter
Gottfried, J. Michael
Tautz, F. Stefan
Wenzel, Sabine
Chemical Physics
Materials Science
On-surface synthesis has allowed for the tuneable preparation of numerous molecular systems with variable properties. Recently, we demonstrated the highly selective synthesis of kekulene (>99%) on Cu(111) and isokekulene (92%) on Cu(110) from the same molecular precursor (Ruan et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, e202509932). Scanning tunneling microscopy with CO-functionalized tips can identify the single molecules on the basis of their geometric structure at a low coverage on Cu(110), but it also detects complex features due to electronic contributions close to the Fermi energy. Here, we investigate the origin of these features by simulating STM images based on a weighted sum of multiple molecular orbitals, for which we employ weights based on the calculated molecular-orbital projected density of states. This allows for an experimental confirmation of charge transfer from the surface into multiple formerly unoccupied molecular orbitals for single molecules of kekulene as well as isokekulene in its two nonplanar adsorption configurations. In comparison, the area-integrating photoemission orbital tomography technique confirms the charge transfer as well as the high selectivity for the formation of a full monolayer of mainly isokekulene on Cu(110). Our STM-based approach is applicable to a wide range of adsorbed molecular systems and specifically also suited for strongly interacting surfaces, nonplanar molecules, and such molecules which can only be prepared at extremely low yields.
title Multi-Orbital Charge Transfer into Nonplanar Cycloarenes Revealed with CO-Functionalized Tips
topic Chemical Physics
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.00736