Molecular-Level Realignment in Donor–Acceptor Bilayer Blends on Metals
Résumé
Molecular bilayers made up of a donor−acceptor blend in contact with
the metal and capped with a single-component layer show a tunable energy level
alignment at both metal−organic and organic−organic interfaces. To ensure sharp
heteromolecular interfaces, a contact layer is formed by a stable blend of pentacene
(PEN) and perfluorinated copper phthalocyanine (F16CuPc) on Au(111) and
Ag(111) and of perfluoropentacene (PFP) and copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) on
Ag(111). Core-level and valence band photoemission reveal that, upon capping with
pure F16CuPc, CuPc, and PEN, the electronic states of both contact and capping
layers “realign” with respect to the monolayer and the multilayer references. The sign
of the shift depends clearly on whether the capping layer is donor-like (PEN, CuPc)
or acceptor-like (F16CuPc). As revealed by NEXAFS, the shift in electronic levels of
the contact layer upon capping leads to a spectral density variation across the Fermi
edge (EF); i.e., it induces molecule/metal charge transfer.