Work

Single molecule thermal gearing effect

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Observation of a thermally activated gearing effect between two hexa- tert -butyl-decacyclene (HBDC) molecule-gears is reported using the Au(111) surface to constrain lateral diffusion of the molecules at 77 K. An on-purpose selected small 2D HBDC nano-island is first destabilized using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in a soft-pulling mode of molecular manipulation. It follows a long sequence of thermally activated spontaneous molecular reconfigurations, leading up to a molecular gearing effect. Using coupled Langevin equations, a simulation of this thermal process is proposed to determine the conditions for this thermally activated gearing effect.

Source: Chemical Physics Letters

DOI: 10.1016/j.cplett.2025.142513

Authors: Piyush Kanti Sarkar, Soyoung Park, Kedar Sharma, Ningwei Sun, Franziska S.-C. Lissel, Christian Joachim

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre d’Élaboration de Matériaux et d’Études Structurales, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research, Hamburg University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Surface Chemistry and Catalysis

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,270

Funders: European Commission, HORIZON EUROPE European Innovation Council