Themed collection Scanning Probe Studies of Molecular Systems

An extensive analysis of the complex mechanisms governing the on-surface polymerisation of boronic acid on a metal surface under vacuum.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy of the dynamics of functional molecules (porphyrins) close to room temperature enables a detailed determination of the thermodynamic potentials including entropic contributions of the underlying processes.

Trigonal molecules compartmentalise the pores of a supramolecular honeycomb network.

Halogen bonding-based self-assembly of pyrene derivatives on Au(111).

Biaxial aromatics with face-on/edge-on stacking adaptability.

No H bonding for the amino group: van der Waals interactions guide the self-assembly of an aminohelicene on Cu(100) and Au(111).

Hierarchical growth of multilayers and complex curved nanostructures including nanospirals and concentric nanorings upon evaporation of a solution.

Electrostatic interactions with the molecular mediator control imaging of graphene oxide by scanning electrochemical microscopy.

We show how the surface state is confined and modulated by the porous structure of a metal-coordinated dicyano-anthracene on-surface network on Cu(111), as evidenced by scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy measurements in real and reciprocal space.

Polydopamine is synthesized in confined femtolitre sized droplets and used as green nanoreactors to fabricate Ag nanoparticles on surfaces.

The nanostructuring of the graphite surface with 2DMOF, based on a combination of an acentric porphyrin tecton and a CoCl₂ metallatecton, was achieved at the solid–liquid interface and characterized by scanning tunnelling microscopy.

Here we report on the apparent reduction in surface chirality upon co-assembling a chiral and achiral molecule into a physisorbed self-assembled monolayer at the liquid/solid interface as revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).

A surprising recognition phenomenon based on van der Waals interactions was observed, which proves that the design of the supramolecular assembly from its building blocks represents a highly promising and general strategy.

Cyclotrimerization of arylalkynes on Au(111) proceeds readily at modest temperatures, and affords two-dimensional covalently bonded polyphenylene networks.

Polymorphic transition from the 1D ribbon to the 2D carpet superstructure of squaric acid molecules on Au(111) was achieved through a thermally activated process.

One- and two-dimensional structures formed by two Lander molecules on Au(111) via 3D-optimized or complementary triple H-bonding are studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and rationalized by numerical calculations.

Electrochemical potential causes molecular tiling of organic ions at the solid–liquid interface with supramolecular motifs that contain between 2 and 7 tectons.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) studies have found that stripe-like domains on gold nanoparticles (NPs) have the same characteristic length in air and in 1-phenyloctane.

A STM image of ferrocenecarboxylic acid clusters on Au(111), showing molecular clusters with both double-row and regular pentagonal geometries.

2HTTBPP on Cu(111) behaves almost like a loaded spring which is held by the strong attractive interactions of the iminic nitrogens with the Cu substrate and is released upon metalation.

A molecular-scale view of efficient and selective homocoupling of both aryl and benzyl groups on cobalt nanoparticles.

Anions stabilize stacking of C₅-symmetric macrocycles, called cyanostars, into dimers in solution, in solid-state crystals, and in bilayers at the solution–graphite interface.

Ni–alkynyl coordination can be quenched or activated depending on the metal surface leading to long-range ordered or random networks, respectively.

PCBM molecules deposited on an exTTF layer grown on Au(111) exchange places with the exTTF molecules, expelling them to the outer surface, even at 150 K, when the surface diffusion of the exTTF molecules is completely frozen.

Gold surfaces were modified by benzyl-mercaptan (BM) and then partly replaced with benzenethiol (BT), which formed binary self-assembled monolayers (SAM).

A chemically synthesized silver nanowire was used for atomic-resolution STM imaging and tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) spectroscopy, yielding excellent reproducibility.

Large-area self-assembled structures of a nucleobase adenine derivative were successfully realized through vacuum deposition.

Solution deposition and molecular resolution AFM of bimolecular supramolecular networks on layered materials including the insulating boron nitride surface.

In this work we report the controlled modulation of secondary structures of the amyloid peptide by terminus molecular modulators.

The supramolecular patterns of a thienophenanthrene derivative could be switched between dissimilar polymorphs with different halogen-bond densities by solution concentration at the aliphatic acid/graphite interface.

Perylenetetracarboxylic diimide forms well-ordered self-assembled monolayers on epitaxial graphene with enhanced structural and thermal stability compared to previous perylene-based compounds.

Two-dimensional homochiral nucleation and conglomerate crystallization of an unsubstituted all-carbon helicene on a metal surface is observed for the first time.

The tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) can be used to dehydrogenate freely-diffusing tetrathienoanthracene (TTA) molecules on Cu(111), trapping the molecules into metal-coordinated oligomeric structures.

Three-dimensional arrangement of 3-HPLN on a 2D surface, involving π–π stacking and perpendicular molecule attachment, results in a Kagome lattice.

The reactive interaction of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [BMP][TFSA] with Cu(111) was investigated by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions.

On-surface reaction of tetracyanobenzene molecules with Mn atoms is presented.

Reaction of tetraphenylporphyrin with nickel on TiO₂(110) results in the formation of nickel(II)-tetraphenylporphyrin and a 45° rotation of the molecule.

We present a novel method that covalently and sequence-specifically attaches long DNA molecules to a surface that is compatible with high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging.

We present a new class of on-surface covalent reactions, formed between diborylene-3,4,9,10-tetraaminoperylene and trimesic acid on Cu(111), which gives rise to a porous 2D-‘sponge’.

The role of organometallic intermediates during on-surface polymerization via Ullmann coupling was studied on Ag(111).

Studying highly energetic pentacene impinging on a surface, we demonstrated that the perpendicular component of the momentum drives the nucleation process, while the parallel component governs the sticking coefficient and the island fractality.

Porphyrin hetero-dimers self-assemble into bilayers that dynamically rearrange at a solid/liquid interface.

Stacked cyclic porphyrin nanorings function as traps for fullerene molecules dependent on stack height and diameter of the nanoring.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals segregation of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, the two Fischer–Tropsch synthesis reactants, on cobalt nanoparticles at catalytically relevant coverages. Density functional theory calculations elucidate the energetics.

Hydrogen and halogen bonds have been associated for the growth of 2D compact supramolecular networks on a silicon surface.

Large scale STM simulation of an anisotropic array of thiophene-based molecules on Si(111)–B.

Alkoxy dehydro[12]annulene derivatives harnessed by a diacetylene unit in each alkyl chain formed porous two-dimensional networks at the liquid–graphite interface.

Prochiral molecules locally induce a chiral restructuring of the Cu(110) surface that persists after removal of the molecules.