2003 年 24 巻 9 号 p. 568-572
We have investigated the chemical reaction of benzene molecule adsorbed on Cu(110) surface induced by the injection of tunneling electrons. The bonding site of the benzene molecule is identified at the hollow site of the Cu(110). The height of the benzene molecule increased by 40% in case tunneling electrons with the energy of 2−5 eV (sample bias is positive) were dosed, which indicates chemical reaction occurs on the benzene molecule in this process. STM-IETS measurement on the benzene molecule before and after the chemical reaction shows a clear difference between these two; ν(C-H) mode is observed only for the molecules after the reaction together with the confirmation of the isotope effect for the vibrational energy. This is interpreted that the dehydrogenation occurs in the benzene molecule by the injection of the tunneling electrons, which changes the bonding configuration of the benzene molecule from flat to non-flat to the surface. The reaction probability shows a sharp rise at the sample bias voltage of 2.4 V that saturates at 3.0 V. The rise is followed by another sharp rise at the voltage of 4.4 V. The current dependence on the reaction probability indicates that the reaction is the one-electron process. We propose a model that the dehydrogenation and chemical reaction of the benzene molecule is induced by a temporal trapping of the tunneling electron at the unoccupied state formed by the π orbitals of the C atoms of the benzene ring, which is not directly related to the C-H bonding broken in the process.