Fig. 2.
Nonacene formation via photodissociation of 2. a STM image after room temperature deposition of the α-bisdiketone nonacene precursor on Au(111) surface. Vb = 0.7 V, I = 2 pA. Scale bar: 5 nm. The inset shows a high-resolution STM image of an individual α-bisdiketone nonacene precursor where two bright protrusions of identical apparent height are assigned to the upward-pointing bridged α- diketone groups. Image size 1.5 nm x 3.5 nm, Vb = −1.5 V, I = 4 pA. b STM image of nonacene species after light exposure (λ = 470 nm, 3 h) of the sample in panel a. Vb = −1 V, I = 7 pA. Scale bar: 5 nm. The inset shows a high-resolution STM image of an individual nonacene. Image size 1.4 nm × 3.4 nm, Vb = −1 V, I = 5 pA. c Graph depicting the percentage of photoconverted molecules vs. light exposure time. Statistics out of ~1100 molecules