Abstract
Self-assembly of benzenethiol at low coverage on Au(111) was studied using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy.
Phenylthiolate species (PhS), formed by thermal dehydrogenation of the parent PhSH molecule, was found to self-assemble into surface-
bonded complexes with gold adatoms. Each such complex involves two PhS species and one gold adatom. The PhS-species form either
cis- or trans-geometry relative to each other. At a higher coverage the complexes coalesce, most likely due to the formation of weak C-
H..S hydrogen bonds facilitated by the spatial arrangement of the PhS-groups. Our findings thus establish that the self-assembly of
arenethiols on Au(111) surface is driven by gold adatom chemistry, which has recently been found to be the key ingredient in the self-
assembly of alkanethiols on gold.
