Image Contrast Analysis of STM Images of Self-Assembled Dioctadecyl Chalcogenides on Graphite at the Liquid-Solid Interface

Self-assembled selenium monolayers: from nanotechnology to materials science and adaptive catalysis

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of selenium have emerged into a rapidly developing field of nanotechnology with several promising opportunities in materials chemistry and catalysis. Comparison between sulfur-based self-assembled monolayers and newly developed selenium-based monolayers reveal outstanding complimentary features on surface chemistry and highlighted the key role of the headgroup element. Diverse structural properties and reactivity of organosulfur and organoselenium groups on the surface provide flexible frameworks to create new generations of materials and adaptive catalysts with unprecedented selectivity. Important practical utility of adaptive catalytic systems deals with development of sustainable technologies and industrial processes based on natural resources. Independent development of nanotechnology, materials science and catalysis has led to the discovery of common fundamental principles of the surface chemistry of chalcogen compounds.

Scanning tunneling microscopy studies of monolayer templates: alkylthioethers and alkylethers

Scanning tunneling microscopy has been used to determine the molecular ordering in stable, ordered monolayers formed from long-chain normal and substituted alkanes in solution on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite surfaces. Monolayers were initially formed using an overlying solution of either a symmetrical dialkylthioether or a symmetrical dialkylether. Initially pure thioether solutions were then changed to nearly pure solutions of the identical chain-length ether, and vice versa. The direct application of a pure solution of long-chain symmetrical ethers onto graphite produced a lamellate monolayer within which the individual molecular axes were oriented at an angle of approximately 65 degrees to the lamellar axes. In contrast, a pure solution of long-chain symmetrical thioethers on graphite produced a monolayer within which the molecular axes were oriented perpendicular to the lamellar axes. When ethers were gradually added to solutions overlying pure thioether monolayers, the ethers substituted into the existing monolayer structure. Thus, the ether molecules could be forced to orient in the perpendicular thioether-like manner through the use of a thioether template monolayer. Continued addition of ethers to the solution ultimately produced a nearly pure ether monolayer that retained the orientation of the thioether monolayer template. However, a monolayer of thioether molecules formed by gradual substitution into an ether monolayer did not retain the 65 degrees orientation typical of dialkylethers, but exhibited the 90 degrees orientation typical of dialkylthioether monolayers. The thioethers and ethers were easily distinguished in images of mixed monolayers, allowing both an analysis of the distribution of the molecules within the mixed monolayers and a comparison of the monolayer compositions with those of the overlying solutions. Substitution of molecules into the template monolayer did not proceed randomly; instead, a molecule within a monolayer was more likely to be replaced by a molecule in the overlying solution if it was located next to a molecule that had already been replaced.

An Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Formation of Nanostructures of Self-Assembled Cyanuric Acid through Hydrogen Bond Networks on Graphite

The self-assembly of cyanuric acid into ordered nanostructures on a crystalline substrate, highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), has been investigated at low temperature under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions by means of scanning tunneling microscopy in conjunction with theoretical simulations. Many domains with different self-assembly patterns were observed. One such domain represents the formation of an open 2D rosette (cyclic) structure from the self-assembly process, the first observation of this type of structure for pure cyanuric acid on a graphite substrate. Each self-assembled domain exhibits characteristic superstructures formed through different hydrogen bond networks at low coverage and low deposition rate. Experimental observation of coexistent, two-dimensional crystalline structures with distinct hydrogen bond patterns is supported by energy minimizations and molecular dynamics calculations, which show multiple stable structures for this molecule when self-assembled on graphite.

Self-assembly of 1-D organic semiconductor nanostructures

This review focuses on the molecular design and self-assembly of a new class of crowded aromatics that form 1-D nanostructures via hydrogen bonding and pi-pi interactions. These molecules have a permanent dipole moment that sums as the subunits self assemble into molecular stacks. The assembly of these molecular stacks can be directed with electric fields. Depending on the nature of the side-chains, molecules can obtain the face-on or edge-on orientation upon the deposition onto a surface via spin cast technique. Site-selective steady state fluorescence, time-resolved fluorescence, and various types of scanning probe microscopy measurements detail the intermolecular interactions that drive the aromatic molecules to self-assemble in solution to form well-ordered columnar stacks. These nanostructures, formed in solution, vary in their number, size, and structure depending on the functional groups, solvent, and concentration used. Thus, the substituents/side-groups and the proper choice of the solvent can be used to tune the intermolecular interactions. The 1-D stacks and their aggregates can be easily transferred by solution casting, thus allowing a simple preparation of molecular nanostructures on different surfaces.

Adsorption and Dynamics of Long-Range Interacting Fullerenes in a Flexible, Two-Dimensional, Nanoporous Porphyrin Network

Herein, a detailed investigation of the adsorption and dynamics of C60 and C70 fullerenes hosted in a self-assembled, two-dimensional, nanoporous porphyrin network on a solid Ag surface is presented. Time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of these supramolecular systems at the molecular scale reveal distinct host-guest interactions giving rise to a pronounced dissimilar mobility of the two fullerenes within the porphyrin network. Furthermore, long-range coverage-dependent interactions between the all-carbon guests, which clearly affect their mobility and are likely mediated by a complex mechanism involving the Ag substrate and the flexible porphyrin host network, are observed. At increased fullerene coverage, this unprecedented interplay results in the formation of large fullerene chains and islands. By applying a lattice gas model with nearest-neighbor interactions and by evaluating the fullerene-pair distribution functions, the respective coverage-dependent guest-guest interaction energies are estimated.