TY - JOUR
T1 - Electron Transmission through Coordinating Atoms Embedded in Metal-Organic Nanoporous Networks
AU - Piquero-Zulaica, Ignacio
AU - Sadeghi, Ali
AU - Kherelden, Mohammad
AU - Hua, Muqing
AU - Liu, Jing
AU - Kuang, Guowen
AU - Yan, Linghao
AU - Ortega, J. Enrique
AU - El-Fattah, Zakaria M.Abd
AU - Azizi, Behnam
AU - Lin, Nian
AU - Lobo-Checa, Jorge
PY - 2019/12/31
Y1 - 2019/12/31
N2 - On-surface metal-organic nanoporous networks generally refer to adatom coordinated molecular arrays, which are characterized by the presence of well-defined and regular nanopores. These periodic structures constructed using two types of components confine the surface electrons of the substrate within their nanocavities. However, the confining (or scattering) strength that individual building units exhibit is a priori unknown. Here, we study the modification of the substrate's surface electrons by the interaction with a Cu-coordinated TPyB metal-organic network formed on Cu(111) and disentangle the scattering potentials and confinement properties. By means of STM and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we find almost unperturbed free-electron-like states stemming from the rather weak electron confinement that yields significant coupling between adjacent pores. Electron plane wave expansion simulations match the superlattice induced experimental electronic structure, which features replicating bands and energy renormalization effects. Notably, the electrostatic potential landscape obtained from our ab initio calculations suggests that the molecules are the dominant scattering entities while the coordination metal atoms sandwiched between them act as leaky channels. These metal atom transmission conduits facilitate and enhance the coupling among quantum dots, which are prone to be exploited to engineer the electronic structure of surface electron gases.
AB - On-surface metal-organic nanoporous networks generally refer to adatom coordinated molecular arrays, which are characterized by the presence of well-defined and regular nanopores. These periodic structures constructed using two types of components confine the surface electrons of the substrate within their nanocavities. However, the confining (or scattering) strength that individual building units exhibit is a priori unknown. Here, we study the modification of the substrate's surface electrons by the interaction with a Cu-coordinated TPyB metal-organic network formed on Cu(111) and disentangle the scattering potentials and confinement properties. By means of STM and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we find almost unperturbed free-electron-like states stemming from the rather weak electron confinement that yields significant coupling between adjacent pores. Electron plane wave expansion simulations match the superlattice induced experimental electronic structure, which features replicating bands and energy renormalization effects. Notably, the electrostatic potential landscape obtained from our ab initio calculations suggests that the molecules are the dominant scattering entities while the coordination metal atoms sandwiched between them act as leaky channels. These metal atom transmission conduits facilitate and enhance the coupling among quantum dots, which are prone to be exploited to engineer the electronic structure of surface electron gases.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078005914&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.266805
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.266805
M3 - Article
C2 - 31951458
AN - SCOPUS:85078005914
VL - 123
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 26
M1 - 266805
ER -