Bond between artificial and natural atom measured for the first time
Chemists reveal the tiny forces in chemical bonds between quantum corrals and AFM tip atoms
Scientists in Germany have found that quantum corrals – synthetic circular nanostructures that act as artificial atoms – can form very weak chemical bonds with an atom sitting at the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM). ‘For the first time, we could experimentally verify the chemical bonds formed by such artificial atoms,’ says Franz Giessibl from the University of Regensburg, who led the study.