Persistence of the Co-tetra-phenyl-porphyrin HOMO-LUMO features when a single organic layer is grown onto Cu(1 1 0)-(2 × 1)O

Abstract Ultra-thin organic films must be screened when deposited onto freshly prepared metal surfaces in view of preserving the molecular physical-chemical properties. A current promising strategy prescribes the oxidation of the substrate and, when possible, the creation of a single oxide layer. This strategy was successfully exploited with metal-tetra-phenyl porphyrins (M-TPP) on Fe(001)-p(1 × 1)O. Here, our study is extended to the oxidized Cu(110)-(2 × 1)O. Having free coordination sites, the Co-TPP is perturbed when deposited onto the freshly prepared copper surface and the HOMO-LUMO levels quenched, as reported in the literature. Here, we prove that the oxide copper surface reduces the molecule-substrate interaction and photoemission spectroscopy is able to reveal the characteristic electronic features of the molecules.