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Interplay of adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions in self-assembled molecular surface nanostructures

Schnadt, Joachim LU orcid ; Xu, Wei ; Vang, Ronnie T. ; Knudsen, Jan ; Li, Zheshen ; Laegsgaard, Erik and Besenbacher, Flemming (2010) In Nano Reseach 3(7). p.459-471
Abstract
The adsorption of 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (NDCA) molecules on the Ag(110), Cu(110), and Ag(111) surfaces at room temperature has been studied by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Further supporting results were obtained using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). On the Ag(110) support, which had an average terrace width of only 15 nm, the NDCA molecules form extended one-dimensional (1-D) assemblies, which are oriented perpendicular to the step edges and have lengths of several hundred nanometres. This shows that the assemblies have a large tolerance to monatomic surface steps on the Ag(110) surface. The observed behaviour is explained in terms of strong intermolecular... (More)
The adsorption of 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (NDCA) molecules on the Ag(110), Cu(110), and Ag(111) surfaces at room temperature has been studied by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Further supporting results were obtained using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). On the Ag(110) support, which had an average terrace width of only 15 nm, the NDCA molecules form extended one-dimensional (1-D) assemblies, which are oriented perpendicular to the step edges and have lengths of several hundred nanometres. This shows that the assemblies have a large tolerance to monatomic surface steps on the Ag(110) surface. The observed behaviour is explained in terms of strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding and a strong surface-mediated directionality, assisted by a sufficient degree of molecular backbone flexibility. In contrast, the same kind of step-edge crossing is not observed when the molecules are adsorbed on the isotropic Ag(111) or more reactive Cu(110) surfaces. On Ag(111), similar 1-D assemblies are formed to those on Ag(110), but they are oriented along the step edges. On Cu(110), the carboxylic groups of NDCA are deprotonated and form covalent bonds to the surface, a situation which is also achieved on Ag(110) by annealing to 200 degrees C. These results show that the formation of particular self-assembled molecular nanostructures depends significantly on a subtle balance between the adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions and that kinetic factors play an important role. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
scanning tunnelling, Molecular self-assembly, hydrogen bonding, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, microscopy
in
Nano Reseach
volume
3
issue
7
pages
459 - 471
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000279688300001
  • scopus:77954456602
ISSN
1998-0124
DOI
10.1007/s12274-010-0005-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f720f0bb-5b28-4bbd-91b8-041cc599a5c4 (old id 1657813)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:06:56
date last changed
2023-11-10 12:53:45
@article{f720f0bb-5b28-4bbd-91b8-041cc599a5c4,
  abstract     = {{The adsorption of 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (NDCA) molecules on the Ag(110), Cu(110), and Ag(111) surfaces at room temperature has been studied by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Further supporting results were obtained using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). On the Ag(110) support, which had an average terrace width of only 15 nm, the NDCA molecules form extended one-dimensional (1-D) assemblies, which are oriented perpendicular to the step edges and have lengths of several hundred nanometres. This shows that the assemblies have a large tolerance to monatomic surface steps on the Ag(110) surface. The observed behaviour is explained in terms of strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding and a strong surface-mediated directionality, assisted by a sufficient degree of molecular backbone flexibility. In contrast, the same kind of step-edge crossing is not observed when the molecules are adsorbed on the isotropic Ag(111) or more reactive Cu(110) surfaces. On Ag(111), similar 1-D assemblies are formed to those on Ag(110), but they are oriented along the step edges. On Cu(110), the carboxylic groups of NDCA are deprotonated and form covalent bonds to the surface, a situation which is also achieved on Ag(110) by annealing to 200 degrees C. These results show that the formation of particular self-assembled molecular nanostructures depends significantly on a subtle balance between the adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions and that kinetic factors play an important role.}},
  author       = {{Schnadt, Joachim and Xu, Wei and Vang, Ronnie T. and Knudsen, Jan and Li, Zheshen and Laegsgaard, Erik and Besenbacher, Flemming}},
  issn         = {{1998-0124}},
  keywords     = {{scanning tunnelling; Molecular self-assembly; hydrogen bonding; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; microscopy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{459--471}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Nano Reseach}},
  title        = {{Interplay of adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions in self-assembled molecular surface nanostructures}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12274-010-0005-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s12274-010-0005-9}},
  volume       = {{3}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}