Fullerene Nanostructures on Defect-Rich Graphite Surfaces

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C 2009-05, Vol.113 (19), p.8107-8111
• Main Authors: Büttner, M, Reinke, P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: C: Nanops and Nanostructures
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/jp900597b

Fullerene thin films are deposited on defect-rich Highly Oriented Pyrolitic Graphite (HOPG) and investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). These films exhibit a wealth of novel structural and electronic features which are not present in fullerene layers deposited on pristine graphite surfaces. Molecule nanostructures comprised of single molecules with a greatly enhanced apparent size, trimer structures, and hexamer structures are observed. The geometry of these molecular structures is linked to the stacking of the C60 layer, and their formation and electronic structure is presumably controlled by the interaction with defects in the graphite surface. The graphite substrate is locally amorphized with a focused ion beam, and the fullerene layer undergoes a transition from a hexagonal structure on the graphite to an amorphous, irregular structure with a considerable local variation of the apparent molecule sizes on the defect-rich surface region. Our study illustrates the substantial modification of the electronic and geometric structure of molecular layers caused by the interaction with surface defects.