Edge and terrace structure of CoTPP on Au(1 1 1) investigated by ultra-high vacuum scanning tunnelling microscopy at room temperature

Edge adsorption and terrace molecular domain structures of Cobalt(II) tetraphenylporphyrin (CoTPP) on Au(1 1 1) were investigated using STM at room temperature. Two different terrace domain structures were observed. These two arrangements were found to be enantiomorphous arrangements of the molecular assemblies, where the molecular rows rotate ±16° with respect to the [1 2 1] direction of Au(1 1 1). In both arrangements, most of the CoTPP molecules were imaged as one bright dot with four legs, corresponding to a planar conformation of the macrocycle. A small proportion of the CoTPP molecules appear as two bright dots, corresponding to a saddle shape of the macrocycle. Our results show that most of the saddle-deformed CoTPP molecules are distributed in the vicinity of the bridging sites of the reconstructed gold surface. Besides terrace domains, we found that several edge adsorption structures of CoTPP are also stable enough to be imaged and analysed in detail. Furthermore, the relationship between edge structures and terrace domains was revealed.