Atomic-scale chemical modification of surface-adsorbed ethyl groups on Si(001) was induced and studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy. Tunneling at sample bias > +1.5V leads to tip-induced C-H cleavage of a $beta$-hydrogen of the covalently bound ethyl configuration. The reaction is characterized by the formation of an additional Si-H and a Si-C bond. The reaction probability shows a linear dependence on the tunneling current at 300 K; the reaction is largely suppressed at 50 K. The observed tip-induced surface reaction at room temperature is thus attributed to a one-electron excitation in combination with thermal activation.
Building on our earlier study, we examine the kinetic barriers to decomposition of alane, AlH$_3$, on the Si(001) surface, using the nudged elastic band (NEB) approach within DFT. We find that the initial decomposition to AlH with two H atoms on the surface proceeds without a significant barrier. There are several pathways available to lose the final hydrogen, though these present barriers of up to 1 eV. Incorporation is more challenging, with the initial structures less stable in several cases than the starting structures, just as was found for phosphorus. We identify a stable route for Al incorporation following selective surface hydrogen desorption (e.g. by STM tip). The overall process parallels PH$_3$, and indicates that atomically precise acceptor doping should be possible.
We report low frequency tunnel current noise characteristics of an organic monolayer tunnel junction. The measured devices, n-Si/alkyl chain (C18H37)/Al junctions, exhibit a clear 1/ f γ power spectrum noise with 1< γ <1.2. We observe a slight bias-dependent background of the normalized current noise power spectrum (SI/I^2). However, a local increase is also observed over a certain bias range, mainly if V > 0.4 V, with an amplitude varying from device to device. We attribute this effect to an energy-dependent trap-induced tunnel current. We find that the background noise, SI, scales with >. A model is proposed showing qualitative agreements with our experimental data.
We show by first-principles calculations that the electronic properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbons (Z-GNRs) adsorbed on Si(001) substrate strongly depend on ribbon width and adsorption orientation. Only narrow Z-GNRs with even rows of zigzag chains across their width adsorbed perpendicularly to the Si dimer rows possess an energy gap, while wider Z-GNRs are metallic due to width-dependent interface hybridization. The Z-GNRs can be metastably adsorbed parallel to the Si dimer rows, but show uniform metallic nature independent of ribbon width due to adsorption induced dangling-bond states on the Si surface.
Light-driven plasmonic enhancement of chemical reactions on metal catalysts is a promising strategy to achieve highly selective and efficient chemical transformations. The study of plasmonic catalyst materials has traditionally focused on late transition metals such as Au, Ag, and Cu. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the plasmonic properties of a set of earth-abundant elements such as Mg, which exhibit interesting hydrogenation chemistry with potential applications in hydrogen storage. This work explores the optical, electronic, and catalytic properties of a set of metallic Mg nanoclusters with up to 2057 atoms using time-dependent density functional tight-binding and density functional theory calculations. Our results show that Mg nanoclusters are able to produce highly energetic hot electrons with energies of up to 4 eV. By electronic structure analysis, we find that these hot electrons energetically align with electronic states of physisorbed molecular hydrogen, occupation of which by hot electrons can promote the hydrogen dissociation reaction. We also find that the reverse reaction, hydrogen evolution on metallic Mg, can potentially be promoted by hot electrons, but following a different mechanism. Thus, from a theoretical perspective, Mg nanoclusters display very promising behaviour for their use in light promoted storage and release of hydrogen.