Insight into Action Spectroscopy for Single Molecule Motion and Reactions through Inelastic Electron Tunneling

Kenta Motobayashi, Yousoo Kim, Hiromu Ueba, and Maki Kawai

Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 076101 – Published 11 August 2010

Abstract

We propose a versatile formula that describes action spectra for vibrationally mediated reactions of single molecules with a scanning tunneling microscope. Spectral fitting of the formula to CO hopping and the configurational change of the cis-2-butene molecule on Pd(110) enables us to determine the vibrational energy, reaction order, and transition rate associated with anharmonic coupling between the modes excited by tunneling electrons and the reaction-coordinate modes. The formula proposed here is general and easy to apply to any vibrationally mediated motion and reaction of single molecules.

Received 29 April 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.076101

Authors & Affiliations

Kenta Motobayashi^1,2, Yousoo Kim², Hiromu Ueba³, and Maki Kawai¹

¹Department of Advanced Materials Science, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8561, Japan
²RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
³Division of Nano Technology and New Functional Material Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama, 930-8555, Japan

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Issue

Vol. 105, Iss. 7 — 13 August 2010

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