Self-Defined Transition State in Hybrid C-70-Au Clusters Created by the Scanning Tunneling Microscope Tip

Abstract

Manipulation of C-70-Au hybrid nanoclusters was investigated using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip. We demonstrate that removing a selected C-70 molecule from the cluster by STM-tip resulted in an intermediate transition state without thermal decomposition. The molecule rotates and diffuses around the cluster and leaves the cluster without taking an additional molecule and Au atoms due to the rather weak interaction between molecules and the surface atoms. After removing a C-70 molecule, the van der Waals interaction among the remaining C-70 molecules leads to reorganization of the cluster. This self-transition-state is due to a weak charge transfer between the molecules and the surface. The extraction of molecules in a Reshape Transition Interstate ring cluster resulted in polygonal Au island formation.