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Synthesis of armchair graphene nanoribbons from the 10,10′-dibromo-9,9′-bianthracene molecules on Ag(111) : The role of organometallic intermediates

Simonov, K. A. LU ; Generalov, A. V. LU ; Vinogradov, A. S. ; Svirskiy, G. I. ; Cafolla, A. A. ; McGuinness, C. ; Taketsugu, T. ; Lyalin, A. ; Mårtensson, N. and Preobrajenski, A. B. LU (2018) In Scientific Reports 8(1).
Abstract

We investigate the bottom-up growth of N = 7 armchair graphene nanoribbons (7-AGNRs) from the 10,10′-dibromo-9,9′-bianthracene (DBBA) molecules on Ag(111) with the focus on the role of the organometallic (OM) intermediates. It is demonstrated that DBBA molecules on Ag(111) are partially debrominated at room temperature and lose all bromine atoms at elevated temperatures. Similar to DBBA on Cu(111), debrominated molecules form OM chains on Ag(111). Nevertheless, in contrast with the Cu(111) substrate, formation of polyanthracene chains from OM intermediates via an Ullmann-type reaction is feasible on Ag(111). Cleavage of C-Ag bonds occurs before the thermal threshold for the surface-catalyzed activation of C-H bonds on Ag(111) is... (More)

We investigate the bottom-up growth of N = 7 armchair graphene nanoribbons (7-AGNRs) from the 10,10′-dibromo-9,9′-bianthracene (DBBA) molecules on Ag(111) with the focus on the role of the organometallic (OM) intermediates. It is demonstrated that DBBA molecules on Ag(111) are partially debrominated at room temperature and lose all bromine atoms at elevated temperatures. Similar to DBBA on Cu(111), debrominated molecules form OM chains on Ag(111). Nevertheless, in contrast with the Cu(111) substrate, formation of polyanthracene chains from OM intermediates via an Ullmann-type reaction is feasible on Ag(111). Cleavage of C-Ag bonds occurs before the thermal threshold for the surface-catalyzed activation of C-H bonds on Ag(111) is reached, while on Cu(111) activation of C-H bonds occurs in parallel with the cleavage of the stronger C-Cu bonds. Consequently, while OM intermediates obstruct the Ullmann reaction between DBBA molecules on the Cu(111) substrate, they are required for the formation of polyanthracene chains on Ag(111). If the Ullmann-type reaction on Ag(111) is inhibited, heating of the OM chains produces nanographenes instead. Heating of the polyanthracene chains produces 7-AGNRs, while heating of nanographenes causes the formation of the disordered structures with the possible admixture of short GNRs.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Reports
volume
8
issue
1
article number
3506
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85042543772
  • pmid:29472611
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/s41598-018-21704-3
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f9efc6b6-31a3-4279-91bc-5adb98e996f0
date added to LUP
2018-03-08 08:19:07
date last changed
2024-04-15 03:22:46
@article{f9efc6b6-31a3-4279-91bc-5adb98e996f0,
  abstract     = {{<p>We investigate the bottom-up growth of N = 7 armchair graphene nanoribbons (7-AGNRs) from the 10,10′-dibromo-9,9′-bianthracene (DBBA) molecules on Ag(111) with the focus on the role of the organometallic (OM) intermediates. It is demonstrated that DBBA molecules on Ag(111) are partially debrominated at room temperature and lose all bromine atoms at elevated temperatures. Similar to DBBA on Cu(111), debrominated molecules form OM chains on Ag(111). Nevertheless, in contrast with the Cu(111) substrate, formation of polyanthracene chains from OM intermediates via an Ullmann-type reaction is feasible on Ag(111). Cleavage of C-Ag bonds occurs before the thermal threshold for the surface-catalyzed activation of C-H bonds on Ag(111) is reached, while on Cu(111) activation of C-H bonds occurs in parallel with the cleavage of the stronger C-Cu bonds. Consequently, while OM intermediates obstruct the Ullmann reaction between DBBA molecules on the Cu(111) substrate, they are required for the formation of polyanthracene chains on Ag(111). If the Ullmann-type reaction on Ag(111) is inhibited, heating of the OM chains produces nanographenes instead. Heating of the polyanthracene chains produces 7-AGNRs, while heating of nanographenes causes the formation of the disordered structures with the possible admixture of short GNRs.</p>}},
  author       = {{Simonov, K. A. and Generalov, A. V. and Vinogradov, A. S. and Svirskiy, G. I. and Cafolla, A. A. and McGuinness, C. and Taketsugu, T. and Lyalin, A. and Mårtensson, N. and Preobrajenski, A. B.}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Synthesis of armchair graphene nanoribbons from the 10,10′-dibromo-9,9′-bianthracene molecules on Ag(111) : The role of organometallic intermediates}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21704-3}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41598-018-21704-3}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}