New Publication in Nature Communications on "Electrostatic potentials of atomic nanostructures at metal surfaces quantified by scanning quantum dot microscopy”
Rustem Bolat, Jose M. Guevara, Philipp Leinen, Marvin Knol, Hadi H. Arefi, Michael Maiworm, Rolf Findeisen, Ruslan Temirov, Oliver T. Hofmann, Reinhard J. Maurer, F. Stefan Tautz und Christian Wagner
2024/03/14
Electrostatic potentials of atomic nanostructures at metal surfaces quantified by scanning quantum dot microscopy”
Fabricating surface structures at the atomic level is highly promising, and scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is the preferred technique for this task. SPM enables atom-by-atom construction and provides detailed analysis of the created nanostructures, revealing unique nanoscale properties. A key feature at this scale is the electric potential field around atomic objects, stemming from the interaction between electron clouds and atomic nuclei. Traditional methods struggle to measure these fields, but scanning quantum dot microscopy now captures and quantifies surface potentials and dipole moments of nanostructures, including adatoms, chains, and clusters of Ag and Au atoms. Our research combines experimental imaging with density functional theory calculations, showing excellent agreement and offering insights into dipole formation based on atomic properties and nanostructure shapes. This work aids in designing future nanoscale devices, like single-atom catalysts. A significant advancement in this area is the real-time control technique developed by the Control and Cyber-Physical Systems laboratory, in collaboration with Forschungszentrum Jülich, enhancing scanning quantum dot microscopy's potential imaging capabilities.
