Reachin the limit

The left part of the images shows a large scale overview scan with many graphene nanoribbons on a Au(111) surface. These ribbons are synthesized on the surface from smaller precursor molecules, resulting in atomically precise systems. On the right, the internal structure of one of these ribbons is resolved with a CO-molecule attached to the apex of the scanning tunnelling microscope tip. The ribbon is about 7 Å wide, about 100 000 times thinner than a human hair. The position where two carbon atoms are replaced with boron atoms is easily identified by the change in contrast. Such, we reach a resolution to directly visualize the chemical structure of an individual molecule, orders of magnitude away from anything that could be resolved using optical methods.

Image taken by Niklas Friedrich.