EHEckart Hasselbrink

Eckart Hasselbrink

*This is an algorithmically generated author record based on publicly available information.

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Previous Organizations / Institutes

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Eckart Hasselbrink has a total of 220 co-authors. Here are the top co-authors by number of shared publications:


Latest Publications

  • Open Access

    Response of a ODT monolayer to rapid heating studied by vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy

    by Matthias Linke, Eckart Hasselbrink

    A self-assembled monolayer of octadecanethiol adsorbed on a thin film of Au was flash-heated by illuminating the structure, further consisting of a glass substrate and a Ti contact layer, with a 19 ps laser pulse of 532 nm light from the backside, inducing a temperature increase by 113 K within 100 ps. The details of the temporal evolution of the temperature can be well modeled when taking into account the predominant light absorption in the Ti layer and the large thermal boundary resistance between the layers. The evolution of the molecular structure is time-resolved by vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy. While the molecules are initially tilted by 30° with respect to the surface normal, this order is rapidly lost, whereby the disordering lags 150 ps behind the temperature evolution. After 400 ps, the molecular order is dissolved.

  • Open Access

    Response of a 4-nitrothiophenol monolayer to rapid heating studied by vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy

    by Matthias Linke, Joshua Multhaup, Eckart Hasselbrink

    A monolayer of 4-nitrothiophenol adsorbed on an Au substrate was heated by illuminating the substrate with a 19 ps laser pulse of 532 nm wavelength. Within 91 ps, the temperature of the sample increased from room temperature by 113 K. Vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy was used to characterize the adsorption geometry of the molecules in the ordered domains in the monolayer film. Upon heating, the initially ordered monolayer largely lost its structure. While the molecules are initially tilted by about 50° with respect to the surface normal, the analysis indicates that the mean tilt angle increased to 80° with a spread for individual molecules of up to a tilt angle of 40° upon heating. The evolution of this loss of order lagged about 100 ps behind the temperature rise of the substrate.


  • Isolating the optical response of a MoS2 monolayer under extreme screening of a metal substrate

    by Tao Yang, Stephan Sleziona, Erik Pollmann, Eckart Hasselbrink, Peter Kratzer, Marika Schleberger, R. Kramer Campen, Yujin Tong

    Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) monolayers, as two-dimensional (2D) direct bandgap semiconductors, hold promise for advanced optoelectronic and photocatalytic devices. Interaction with three-dimensional (3D) metals, like Au, profoundly affects their optical properties, posing challenges in characterizing the monolayer's optical responses within the semiconductor-metal junction. In this study, using precise polarization-controlled final-state sum frequency generation (FS-SFG), we successfully isolated the optical responses of a MoS2 monolayer from a MoS2/Au junction. The resulting SFG spectra exhibit a linear lineshape, devoid of A or B exciton features, attributed to the strong dielectric screening and substrate induced doping. The linear lineshape illustrates the expected constant density of states (DOS) at the band edge of the 2D semiconductor, a feature often obscured by excitonic interactions in weak-screening conditions such as in a free-standing monolayer. Extrapolation yields the onset of a direct quasiparticle bandgap of about 1.65±0.20eV, indicating a strong bandgap renormalization. This study not only enriches our understanding of the optical responses of a 2D semiconductor in extreme screening conditions but also provides a critical reference for advancing 2D semiconductor-based photocatalytic applications.


  • Open Access

    Interaction of 2-propanol with predominantly SrO- and TiO2-terminated SrTiO3(100) surfaces studied by vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy

    by Anupam Bera, Denise Bullert, Matthias Linke, Steffen Franzka, Ulrich Hagemann, Nils Hartmann, Eckart Hasselbrink

    The interaction of 2-propanol with SrTiO3(100) surfaces is studied with a focus on the role of different surface terminations in the deprotonation upon adsorption.


  • Interaction between a gold substrate and monolayer MoS2 : An azimuthal-dependent sum frequency generation study

    by Tao Yang, Erik Pollmann, Stephan Sleziona, Eckart Hasselbrink, Peter Kratzer, Marika Schleberger, R. Kramer Campen, Yujin Tong

    Most of the monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are chemically stable and have a combination of electronic, linear, and nonlinear optical (NLO) characteristics not generally found in bulk solids. This combination of traits has driven intense interest in their application in a variety of optoelectronic and (photo)electrocatalytic contexts. To realize these applications, it is often necessary to bring the TMDC monolayer into contact with a metal surface. However, while the interaction between TMDCs and dielectric substrates has been intensely studied, much less has been reported on the interaction between TMDCs and metals. Here we use azimuthal-dependent sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy to study the interaction of monolayer MoS2 and gold by comparing the second-order NLO response of MoS2 on Si/SiO2 as a function of azimuthal angle. In contrast to the well-known sixfold symmetric pattern of MoS2 on Si/SiO2 in all polarization combinations, both the symmetric pattern and relative intensities of the azimuthal-dependent SFG response of MoS2 on Au depend strongly on polarization. Analysis of the components and magnitudes of the second-order nonlinear susceptibility (χ(2)) of the MoS2/SiO2, MoS2/Au, and gold substrate reveals a strong interaction between monolayer MoS2 and gold substrate broadly consistent with prior theoretical studies. Our measurement of the photon energy dependent nonlinear optical signal symmetry on MoS2/Au is strong evidence that we observe a mode-specific electronic effect that depends on the exciton resonance. In addition our approach allows the quantification of the χ(2) of monolayer MoS2 on SiO2 and Au, (7.9±1.6)×10−20, and (1.4±0.3)×10−19m2/V, respectively. The current study demonstrates that the interaction between Au and a model TMDC monolayer substantially alters both the magnitude and symmetry of the NLO response. Such effects are important in application of these materials in optoelectronic devices and offer a contact-free probe of substrate-induced changes in the monolayer's electronic structure.


  • Open Access

    2-Propanol interacting with Co3O4(001): A combined vSFS and AIMD study

    by Amir H. Omranpoor, Anupam Bera, Denise Bullert, Matthias Linke, Soma Salamon, Samira Webers, Heiko Wende, Eckart Hasselbrink, Eckhard Spohr, Stéphane Kenmoe

    The interaction of 2-propanol with Co3O4(001) was studied by vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of 2-propanol dissolved in a water film to gain an insight, at the molecular level, into the pathways of catalytic oxidation. The experimental study has been performed under near ambient conditions, where the presence of water vapor is unavoidable, resulting in a water film on the sample and, thereby, allowing us to mimic the solution–water interface. Both experiment and theory conclude that 2-propanol adsorbs molecularly. The lack of dissociation is attributed to the adsorption geometry of 2-propanol in which the O–H bond does not point toward the surface. Furthermore, the copresent water not only competitively adsorbs on the surface but also inhibits 2-propanol deprotonation. The calculations reveal that the presence of water deactivates the lattice oxygen, thereby reducing the surface activity. This finding sheds light on the multifaceted role of water at the interface for the electrochemical oxidation of 2-propanol in aqueous solution as recently reported [Falk et al., ChemCatChem 13, 2942–2951 (2021)]. At higher temperatures, 2-propanol remains molecularly adsorbed on Co3O4(001) until it desorbs with increasing surface temperature.


  • Open Access

    2-Propanol Interacting with Co3O4(001):A combined AIMD and vSFS study

    by Amir H. Omranpoor, Anupam Bera, Denise Bullert, Matthias Linke, Soma Salamon, Samira Weber, Heiko Wende, Eckart Hasselbrink, Eckhard Spohr, Stephane Kenmoe

    The interaction of 2-propanol with Co3O4(001) was studied by vibrational sum fre-quency spectroscopy (vSFS) and by ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations of 2-propanol dissolved in a water film to gain insight at the molecular level into the pathways of catalytic oxidation. The experimental study has been performed under near ambient condition, where the presence of water vapor is unavoidable, resulting in a water film on the sample and thereby allowing us to mimic the solution-water interface. Both experiment and theory conclude that 2-propanol adsorbs molecularly. The lack of dissociation is attributed to the adsorption geometry of 2-propanol in which the O-H bond does not point towards the surface. Furthermore, the copresent water not only competitively adsorbs on the surface but also inhibits 2-propanol deprotonation. The calculations reveal that the presence of water deactivates the lattice oxygen, thereby reducing the surface activity. This finding sheds light on the multifaceted role of water at the interface for the electrochemical oxidation of 2-propanol in aqueous solution as recently reported. At higher temperatures 2-propanol remains molecularly adsorbedon Co3O4(001) until it desorbs with increasing surface temperature.

  • A fresh look at the structure of aromatic thiols on Au surfaces from theory and experiment

    by Joscha Hekele, Matthias Linke, Thomas Keller, Jesil Jose, Marvin Hille, Eckart Hasselbrink, Sebastian Schlücker, Peter Kratzer

    A detailed study of the adsorption structure of self-assembled monolayers of 4-nitrothiophenol on the Au(111) surface was performed from a theoretical perspective via first-principles density functional theory calculations and experimentally by Raman and vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy (vSFS) with an emphasis on the molecular orientation. Simulations—including an explicit van der Waals (vdW) description—for different adsorbate structures, namely, for (3×3 ), (2 × 2), and (3 × 3) surface unit cells, reveal a significant tilting of the molecules toward the surface with decreasing coverage from 75° down to 32° tilt angle. vSFS suggests a tilt angle of 50°, which agrees well with the one calculated for a structure with a coverage of 0.25. Furthermore, calculated vibrational eigenvectors and spectra allowed us to identify characteristic in-plane (NO2 scissoring) and out-of-plane (C–H wagging) modes and to predict their strength in the spectrum in dependence of the adsorption geometry. We additionally performed calculations for biphenylthiol and terphenylthiol to assess the impact of multiple aromatic rings and found that vdW interactions are significantly increasing with this number, as evidenced by the absorption energy and the molecule adopting a more upright-standing geometry.