1 research outputs found
Resonant heating and substrate-mediated cooling of a single C60 molecule in a tunnel junction
We study the influence of different metallic substrates on the electron
induced heating and heat dissipation of single C60 molecules in the junction of
a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The electron current passing
through the molecule produces a large amount of heat due to electron-phonon
coupling, eventually leading to thermal decomposition of the fullerene cage.
The power for decomposition varies with electron energy and reflects the
resonance structure participating in the transport. The average value for
thermal decomposition of C60 on Cu(110) amounts to 21 W, while it is much
lower on Pb(111) (2.9 W) and on Au(111) (1.0 W). We ascribe this
difference to the amount of charge transfer into C60 upon adsorption on the
different surfaces, which facilitates molecular vibron quenching by
electron-hole pair creation