Adsorption of PTCDA and C60 on KBr(001): electrostatic interaction versus electronic hybridization

The adsorption of functional molecules on insulator surfaces is of great importance to molecular electronics. We present a systematical investigation of geometric and electronic properties of PTCDA and C60 on KBr(001) using DFT and non-contact atomic force microscopy. It was found that electrostatics is the primary interaction mechanism for PTCDA and C60 adsorbed on KBr. It was thus concluded that alkali-halides is a competitive candidate to be adopted to support low polarizability molecules, such as PTCDA, in future electronics.