Binding characteristics of pyridine on Ag(110)

A combination of low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory calculations was used to determine the binding characteristics of single pyridine molecules at a low coverage on a silver surface. The results indicated that pyridine binds to silver through the nitrogen atom in either a perpendicular or a parallel configuration with the latter structure being more prevalent. Both configurations are produced predominantly through electrostatic interaction between nitrogen and silver atoms. This is induced by charge redistribution in the pyridine molecule and nearby silver atoms upon pyridine adsorption.