Dynamics and spectroscopy of single C60 molecules adsorbed on Au(111) at the liquid/solid interface

The adsorption of C-60 molecules on Au(III) surfaces has been investigated by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) at a liquid-solid interface and at room temperature (RT). At low coverage, C-60 decorates the step edges, forming two-dimensional islands on the terraces which indicate that the molecules have a high mobility even at RT. When the coverage is increased, the C-60 molecules form a close-packed 2root3x2root3 R30degrees structure on reconstructed Au(I II) surface. It is demonstrated that STM in a liquid environment facilitates the performance of spectroscopy measurements and allows the manipulation of single molecules.