Charge transfer states appear in the π-conjugated pure hydrocarbon molecule on Cu(111)

We report on the results of experimental and theoretical studies on the electronic structure of gas-phase diindenoperylene (DIP) and DIP-monolayer (ML) on Cu(111). Vapor-phase ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) was realized for 11.3 mg of DIP, giving reference orbital energies of isolated DIP, and UPS and inverse photoemission spectroscopy of DIP-ML/graphite were performed to obtain DIP-ML electronic states at a weak interfacial interaction. Furthermore, first-principles calculation clearly demonstrates the interfacial rearrangement. These results provide evidence that the rearrangement of orbital energies, which is realized in HOMO-LUMO and HOMO-HOMO−1 gaps, brings partially occupied LUMO through the surface-induced aromatic stabilization of DIP, a pure hydrocarbon molecule, on Cu(111).