Molecules on metal surfaces

We aim to investigate the interactions between the molecules and also the interactions between the surface and the molecules. The knowledge of these interactions is a main prerequisite for the production of self-organized molecular nanostructures on industrial scale.

Our group has investigated molecules of different complexity with different dipole moment on several noble metal surfaces (Ag(111), Cu(111) und Au(111)): the nonpolar oxygen molecule and the polar molecules like water, iodobenzene, nitrobenzene, chloronitrobenzene, dichlorobenzene, and nitronaphthaline. The structures that are formed by adsorption reflect the competing p binding to the metal and interaction of the dipoles.