The growth of chemically and electronically tuned, monolayer thin films, including organic molecules on metallic surfaces, is steered by the balance of adsorbate-surface and interadsorbate interactions. Intercommunication between functional groups for individual adsorbates often serves as the primary driving force that controls monolayer ordering as well as electronic structure especially in the limit of weak interaction between the adsorbate and substrate. In this talk I will discuss the arrangement and interfacial electronic properties of ordered molecular domains that form through interadsorbate hydrogen bonding at noble metal surfaces probed with high spatial resolution, low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy, as well as supporting density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
Dr. Thomas Pearl obtained his undergraduate education in Physics from Carleton College, PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Chicago. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Pearl has been on the Physics Faculty at North Carolina State University since 2003. His research interests focus on studying interactions between surfaces and adsorbates that induce morphological transitions, change electronic characteristics, determine growth and ordering, and drive surface reaction dynamics as they relate to energy generation, nanoscale electronics, and chemical sensors.