Molecular Lifting, Twisting, and Curling during Metal-Assisted Polycyclic Hydrocarbon Dehydrogenation

Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste: present and future

We present an overview of the Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste research center, which hosts synchrotron and free-electron laser light sources. We review the current status, provide examples of recent achievements in basic and applied research and discuss the upgrade programs of the facility.

Unusual reversibility in molecular break-up of PAHs: the case of pentacene dehydrogenation on Ir(111)

In this work, we characterise the adsorption of pentacene molecules on Ir(111) and their dissociation behaviour as a function of temperature.

On-surface synthesis of a nitrogen-embedded buckybowl with inverse Stone-Thrower-Wales topology

Curved π-conjugated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, buckybowls, constitute an important class of materials with wide applications in materials science. Heteroatom doping of buckybowls is a viable route to tune their intrinsic physicochemical properties. However, synthesis of heteroatom-doped buckybowls is a challenging task. We report on a combined in-solution and on-surface synthetic strategy toward the fabrication of a buckybowl containing two fused nitrogen-doped pentagonal rings. We employ ultra-high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, in combination with density functional theory calculations to characterize the final compound. The buckybowl contains a unique combination of non-hexagonal rings at its core, identified as the inverse Stone–Thrower–Wales topology, resulting in a distinctive bowl-opening-down conformation of the buckybowl on the surface. Our controlled design of non-alternant, heteroatom-doped polycyclic aromatic frameworks with established bottom-up fabrication techniques opens new opportunities in the synthesis of carbon nanostructures with the perspective of engineering properties of graphene-based devices.

Heteroatom doping of buckybowls is a viable route to tune their intrinsic physico-chemical properties, but their synthesis remains challenging. Here, the authors report on a combined in-solution and on-surface synthetic strategy towards the fabrication of a buckybowl containing two fused nitrogen-doped pentagonal rings.

Synthesis of corrugated C-based nanostructures by Br-corannulene oligomerization

The structure and electronic properties of carbon-based nanostructures obtained by metal surface assisted synthesis is highly dependent on the nature of the precursor molecule.

Ethylene decomposition on Ir(111): initial path to graphene formation

The complete mechanism behind the thermal decomposition of ethylene (C₂H₄) on Ir(111), which is the first step of graphene growth, is established for the first time employing a combination of experimental and theoretical methods.