We report here the reversibility and bistability of the switching behavior in an azobenzene derivative induced by the bias applied by a scanning-tunneling microscopy (STM) tip, at low temperature and in ultra-high vacuum environment. Thiscis-to-transandtrans-to-cisswitching were observed during STM imaging in either polarity at +2 V or -2 V, on a sub-second time scale. This results in a blinking effect visible on STM images, corresponding to the reversible switching of the azobenzene molecule under the applied STM bias through an electric field induced process.
Keywords: STM; UHV; azobenzene; blinking; electroisomerization.
© 2025 IOP Publishing Ltd. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.