Can We Extract the Molecule–Molecule and Molecule–Surface Interaction Energies of Molecular Adlayer Separately Using Experimental Techniques?

Understanding the energetics of self-assembled molecular nanostructures on the surface at a molecular level is of great importance in tuning the microscopic patterns of molecules on the surface. We show that using temperature-dependent atomic force micrographs of self-assembled phases of a molecular adlayer (monolayer and submonolayer), one can determine the disassembly energy of assembled phases and further its component energies, namely, molecule–molecule and molecule–surface interaction energies, separately. The disassembly energy of an adlayer is directly related to the desorption energy. While the desorption energy is determined experimentally, its component energies (molecule–molecule and molecule–surface interaction energies) have so far been extracted only using theoretical methods.