Issue 1, 2021

Collective radical oligomerisation induced by an STM tip on a silicon surface

Abstract

Over the past decade, on-surface fabrication of organic nanostructures has been widely investigated for the development of molecular electronic components, catalysts, and new materials. Here, we introduce a new strategy to obtain alkyl oligomers in a controlled manner using on-surface radical oligomerisations that are triggered by electrons between the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope and the Si(111)√3 ×√3 R30°-B surface. This electron transfer event only occurs when the bias voltage is below −4.5 V and allows access to reactive radical species under exceptionally mild conditions. This transfer can effectively ‘switch on’ a sequence leading to the formation of oligomers of defined size distribution thanks to the on-surface confinement of the reactive species. Our approach enables new ways to initiate and control radical oligomerisations with tunnelling electrons, leading to molecularly precise nanofabrication.

Graphical abstract: Collective radical oligomerisation induced by an STM tip on a silicon surface

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Nov 2020
Accepted
06 Dec 2020
First published
08 Dec 2020

Nanoscale, 2021,13, 349-354

Collective radical oligomerisation induced by an STM tip on a silicon surface

E. Geagea, J. Jeannoutot, M. Féron, F. Palmino, C. M. Thomas, A. Rochefort and F. Chérioux, Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 349 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR08291K

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