AFM captures changing structures of charged molecules

The precise imaging of individual molecules has been taken to a new level, with a demonstration that electrons can be delivered to them one at a time and the resulting changes in molecular structure discerned in the images.

The technique is reported by Leo Gross and colleagues at IBM’s research labs in Zürich, Switzerland. The findings are ‘impressive and convincing’, says Daniel Ebeling of the Justus Liebig University of Giessen in Germany, who was not involved in the research. He adds that the technique ‘can deliver fundamental information that goes far beyond merely improving the image resolution, and should allow us to increase our understanding of surface reaction processes’.