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The ability to study the distribution of electric charge inside molecules would be useful in many areas of science and technology. Now researchers at IBM Research-Zurich have used a technique called Kelvin probe force microscopy to image the charge distribution inside a single naphthalocyanine molecule on a surface. This molecule has two hydrogen atoms at its centre and four lobes that give it a cross shape. The IBM team shows that the two lobes parallel to the hydrogen atoms have a lower charge density than the other two lobes. This computer simulation shows the asymmetry in the electric field above the molecule and perpendicular to the surface: regions of high field are shown in red and yellow; regions of low field are shown in blue. The image measures just over 2 nm across.
Scanning probe microscopes feature prominently in the history of nanotechnology but, as a recent book on the subject makes clear, this history could have been very different. Chris Toumey explains.
The distribution of electric charge within a single naphthalocyanine molecule has been revealed by researchers using a combination of three types of microscopy and theoretical modelling.
A motor protein can be made to walk in either direction along a filamentous track by adjusting the concentration of calcium ions in the surrounding solution.
This article reviews the development of multifrequency force microscopy and examines its application in studies of proteins, the imaging of vibrating nanostructures, measurements of ion diffusion, and subsurface imaging in cells.
A tunable concentration of localized magnetic impurities is inserted into a metal from a molecular monolayer, which allows many-body phenomena in magnetic impurity–host systems to be studied at unprecedented impurity concentrations.
Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy shows that the catalytic reactivity of a single gold nanorod varies along its sides, even though the same side facets span its length.
A single phosphorus atom is deterministically positioned between source, drain and gate electrodes within an epitaxial silicon device architecture to make a single-atom transistor.
Chickens acutely exposed to polystyrene nanoparticles are less efficient at absorbing iron across the epithelial cells of their intestines than chickens chronically exposed and those that are not exposed at all.