TY  - JOUR
AU  - Knol, Marvin
AU  - Arefi, Hadi H.
AU  - Corken, Daniel
AU  - Gardner, James
AU  - Tautz, F. Stefan
AU  - Maurer, Reinhard J.
AU  - Wagner, Christian
TI  - The stabilization potential of a standing molecule
JO  - Science advances
VL  - 7
IS  - 46
SN  - 2375-2548
CY  - Washington, DC [u.a.]
PB  - Assoc.
M1  - FZJ-2021-04211
SP  - eabj9751
PY  - 2021
AB  - The part-by-part assembly of functional nanoscale machinery is a central goal of nanotechnology. With the recent fabrication of an isolated standing molecule with a scanning probe microscope, the third dimension perpendicular to the surface will soon become accessible to molecule-based construction. Beyond the flatlands of the surface, a wealth of structures and functionalities is waiting for exploration, but issues of stability are becoming more critical. Here, we combine scanning probe experiments with ab initio potential energy calculations to investigate the thermal stability of a prototypical standing molecule. We reveal its generic stabilization mechanism, a fine balance between covalent and van der Waals interactions including the latter’s long-range screening by many-body effects, and find a remarkable agreement between measured and calculated stabilizing potentials. Beyond their relevance for the design and construction of three-dimensional molecular devices at surfaces, our results also indicate that standing molecules may serve as tunable mechanical gigahertz oscillators.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:34757779
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000717666900016
DO  - DOI:10.1126/sciadv.abj9751
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/902377
ER  -