The role of charge-charge correlations and covalent bonding in the electronic structure of adsorbed C60: C60/Al

Aromatic molecules are central components of model systems for molecular electronics, with C60 one of the most studied. Upon adsorption on (metallic) substrates a splitting of the frontier orbitals is commonly observed, with a strong dependence on substrate material, but little dependence on substrate structure. We report the detailed photoelectron angle dependence of C60/Al(110) over a wide range of energy, finding a strong remnant molecular character. In particular, certain HOMO-derived suborbitals couple strongly, and others weakly, with the metal, which results in final state charging for those weakly coupled. C 1s data correlate well with the assignments made on this basis, as does the comparison of ground state partial densities-of-states (PDOS) to photoelectron spectra. Detailed analysis of the PDOS supports a rough division into surface-near and surface-far components, in agreement with the molecular picture. The component spectral widths are attributed to intramolecular vibrat