Issue 29, 2011

Layer inversion in organic heterostructures

Abstract

Thermally activated layer inversion of ultrathin pentacene/para-sexiphenyl organic heterostructures is observed using a combination of reflectance difference spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. The heterostructures are formed by deposition of sub-monolayer pentacene (PEN) on top of well ordered para-sexiphenyl (p-6P) layers on Cu(110) at 15 K. When the sample temperature is raised, these heterostructures invert, with pentacene molecules diffusing through the para-sexiphenyl buffer layer and getting in direct contact with the substrate. The observed irreversible inversion demonstrates that the p-6P/PEN/Cu(110) is energetically preferred over PEN/p-6P/Cu(110). Furthermore, the onset temperature of the inversion increases with the layer thickness of para-sexiphenyl indicating a corresponding increase of the kinetic barrier for the inversion. Our results demonstrate the strong influence of the configuration of organic heterostructures on their thermal stability, especially for the very thin layers.

Graphical abstract: Layer inversion in organic heterostructures

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Apr 2011
Accepted
08 Jun 2011
First published
27 Jun 2011

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011,13, 13382-13386

Layer inversion in organic heterostructures

L. Sun, C. Liu, D. Queteschiner, G. Weidlinger and P. Zeppenfeld, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 13382 DOI: 10.1039/C1CP21151J

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