TITLE: Characterizing single molecules at the atomic scale: circumstellar analogues, on-surface chemistry and light-matter interactions
AUTHOR: Pablo Merino (Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid)
WHEN: January, 22 - 12PM
WHERE: Salón de Actos, ICMM
ABSTRACT: Scanning probe microscopies (SPM) under ultrahigh vacuum and cryogenic conditions enables exploration of the relations between the adsorption geometry, electronic state, and spectroscopic fingerprints with atomic resolution. SPMs allow to visualize in real space the properties of individual quantum systems one-by-one. This is crucial advantage for studying emerging phenomena that usually become obscured in ensemble measurements. In this seminar, I will present results where submolecular precision has been instrumental in untangling the origin of complex systems. Astrochemical analogues —molecular products generated in physicochemical conditions mimicking interstellar and circumstellar environments— are usually a mixture of different molecular species. Using SPM, we identified the products of our astrophysical simulations as primarily consisting of aliphatic materials. [1,2] Furthermore, I will discuss how SPM allowed us to trace the dehydrogenation of single aliphatic molecules on catalytic surfaces, revealing the cascade of catalytic reactions that are challenging to resolve using conventional methodologies. [3] At last, I will show how the integration of SPMs with optical spectroscopies permits to visualize excitonic processes below the diffraction limit, highlighting how emission depend on the molecular geometry and the precise charge state. [4,5]
References
[1] L Martínez, et al., Nature Astronomy 4 (1), 97-105 (2020)
[2] P. Merino et al., Communications Chemistry 7 (1), 165 (2024)
[3] D. Arribas, et al., Nanoscale 15 (35), 14458-14467 (2023)
[4] K Kuhnke, C Grosse, P Merino, K Kern, Chemical reviews 117 (7), 5174-5222 (2017)
[5] J. Dolezal et al., ACS Nano, 16, 1082-1088 (2022)
