IMAGE: Chains of 1,4-benzenediisocyanate are formed between nanometer-thin gold tips, alternating with individual gold atoms.
Anton Vladyka, Jan Overbeck and Mickael Perrin work at Empa's "Transport at Nanoscale Interfaces" laboratory, headed by Michel Calame. For their experiments, they used a technique called mechanically controllable break junction (MCBJ). A gold bridge only a few nanometers thin is slowly stretched in a reagent solution until it breaks. Individual molecules can attach themselves to the fracture tips of the nano-bridge and undergo chemical reactions.