Controlled atomic doping of a single C60 molecule.

Yamachika, R; Grobis, M; Wachowiak, A; Crommie, M F · Science · 2004

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We report a method for controllably attaching an arbitrary number of charge dopant atoms directly to a single, isolated molecule. Charge-donating K atoms adsorbed on a silver surface were reversibly attached to a C60 molecule by moving it over K atoms with a scanning tunneling microscope tip. Spectroscopic measurements reveal that each attached K atom donates a constant amount of charge (approximately 0.6 electron charge) to the C60 host, thereby enabling its molecular electronic structure to be precisely and reversibly tuned.