Interfaces between organic molecules and inorganic solids adapt a prominent role in fundamental science, catalysis, molecular sensors, and molecular electronics. The molecular adsorption geometry, which is dictated by the strength of lateral and vertical interactions, determines the electronic structure of the molecule/substrate system. In this study, we investigate the binding properties of benzene on the noble metal surfaces Au(111), Ag(111), and Cu(111), respectively, using temperature-programmed desorption and first-principles calculations that account for non-locality of both electronic exchange and correlation effects. In the monolayer regime, we observed for all three systems a decrease of the binding energy with increasing coverage due to repulsive adsorbate/adsorbate interactions. Although the electronic properties of the noble metal surfaces are rather different, the binding strength of benzene on these surfaces is equal within the experimental error (accuracy of 0.05 eV), in excellent agreement with our calculations. This points toward the existence of a universal trend for the binding energy of aromatic molecules resulting from a subtle balance between Pauli repulsion and many-body van der Waals attraction.
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Binding energies of benzene on coinage metal surfaces: Equal stability on different metals
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7 June 2018
Research Article|
June 01 2018
Binding energies of benzene on coinage metal surfaces: Equal stability on different metals
Friedrich Maaß;
Friedrich Maaß
1
Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
, Im Neuenheimer Feld 253, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
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Yingda Jiang;
Yingda Jiang
2
Nano Structural Materials Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
, Nanjing 210094, Jiangsu, China
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Wei Liu
;
Wei Liu
2
Nano Structural Materials Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
, Nanjing 210094, Jiangsu, China
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Alexandre Tkatchenko;
Alexandre Tkatchenko
3
Physics and Materials Science Research Unit, University of Luxembourg
, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
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Petra Tegeder
Petra Tegeder
a)
1
Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
, Im Neuenheimer Feld 253, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: tegeder@uni-heidelberg.de
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: tegeder@uni-heidelberg.de
J. Chem. Phys. 148, 214703 (2018)
Article history
Received:
March 19 2018
Accepted:
May 15 2018
Citation
Friedrich Maaß, Yingda Jiang, Wei Liu, Alexandre Tkatchenko, Petra Tegeder; Binding energies of benzene on coinage metal surfaces: Equal stability on different metals. J. Chem. Phys. 7 June 2018; 148 (21): 214703. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5030094
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