Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential
Scanning probe microscopy can now be used to map the properties of single molecules with intramolecular precision by functionalization of the apex of the scanning probe tip with a single atom or molecule. Here we report on the mapping of the three-dimensional potential between fullerene (C₆₀) molecu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Nature Publishing Group
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37340/ |
| _version_ | 1848795439832236032 |
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| author | Sweetman, Adam Rashid, Mohammad Abdur Jarvis, Samuel Paul Dunn, Janette L. Rahe, Philipp Moriarty, Philip |
| author_facet | Sweetman, Adam Rashid, Mohammad Abdur Jarvis, Samuel Paul Dunn, Janette L. Rahe, Philipp Moriarty, Philip |
| author_sort | Sweetman, Adam |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Scanning probe microscopy can now be used to map the properties of single molecules with intramolecular precision by functionalization of the apex of the scanning probe tip with a single atom or molecule. Here we report on the mapping of the three-dimensional potential between fullerene (C₆₀) molecules in different relative orientations, with sub-Angstrom resolution, using dynamic force microscopy (DFM). We introduce a visualization method which is capable of directly imaging the variation in equilibrium binding energy of different molecular orientations. We model the interaction using both a simple approach based around analytical Lennard–Jones potentials, and with dispersion-force-corrected density functional theory (DFT), and show that the positional variation in the binding energy between the molecules is dominated by the onset of repulsive interactions. Our modelling suggests that variations in the dispersion interaction are masked by repulsive interactions even at displacements significantly larger than the equilibrium intermolecular separation. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:32:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37340 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:32:07Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-373402020-05-04T17:36:57Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37340/ Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential Sweetman, Adam Rashid, Mohammad Abdur Jarvis, Samuel Paul Dunn, Janette L. Rahe, Philipp Moriarty, Philip Scanning probe microscopy can now be used to map the properties of single molecules with intramolecular precision by functionalization of the apex of the scanning probe tip with a single atom or molecule. Here we report on the mapping of the three-dimensional potential between fullerene (C₆₀) molecules in different relative orientations, with sub-Angstrom resolution, using dynamic force microscopy (DFM). We introduce a visualization method which is capable of directly imaging the variation in equilibrium binding energy of different molecular orientations. We model the interaction using both a simple approach based around analytical Lennard–Jones potentials, and with dispersion-force-corrected density functional theory (DFT), and show that the positional variation in the binding energy between the molecules is dominated by the onset of repulsive interactions. Our modelling suggests that variations in the dispersion interaction are masked by repulsive interactions even at displacements significantly larger than the equilibrium intermolecular separation. Nature Publishing Group 2016-02-16 Article PeerReviewed Sweetman, Adam, Rashid, Mohammad Abdur, Jarvis, Samuel Paul, Dunn, Janette L., Rahe, Philipp and Moriarty, Philip (2016) Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential. Nature Communications, 7 . p. 10621. ISSN 2041-1723 http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10621 doi:10.1038/ncomms10621 doi:10.1038/ncomms10621 |
| spellingShingle | Sweetman, Adam Rashid, Mohammad Abdur Jarvis, Samuel Paul Dunn, Janette L. Rahe, Philipp Moriarty, Philip Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential |
| title | Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential |
| title_full | Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential |
| title_fullStr | Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential |
| title_short | Visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential |
| title_sort | visualizing the orientational dependence of an intermolecular potential |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37340/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37340/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37340/ |