Molecular Self-Assembly Driven by On-Surface Reduction: Anthracene and Tetracene on Au(111)

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Epoxyacenes adsorbed on metal surfaces form acenes during thermally induced reduction in ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The incorporation of oxygen bridges into a hydrocarbon backbone leads to an enhanced stability of these molecular precursors under ambient condition; however, it has also a distinct influence on their adsorption and self-Assembly on metal surfaces. Here, a low-Temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (LT-STM) study of two different epoxyacenes on the Au(111) surface at submonolayer coverage is presented. Both molecules show self-Assembly based on hydrogen bonding. While for the molecules with a single epoxy moiety nanostructures of three molecules are formed, extended molecular networks are achieved with two epoxy moieties and a slightly higher surface coverage. Upon annealing at 390 K, the molecules are reduced to the respective acene; however, both systems keep a similar assembled structure. The experimental STM images supported by theoretical calculations show that the self-Assembly of the on-surface fabricated acenes is greatly influenced by the on-surface reaction and strongly differs from the adsorption pattern of directly deposited acenes, highlighting the importance of the cleaved oxygen in the self-Assembly.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20353-20358
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Physical Chemistry C, Nanomaterials and interfaces
Volume121
Issue number37
Publication statusPublished - 21 Sept 2017
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-9607-8715/work/142252630