Steering on-surface polymerization through coordination with a bidentate ligand

Abstract

A double-chain structure was fabricated on Au (111) with a bromine-functionalized phenanthroline precursor. We reveal the competition between the on-surface metal–ligand coordination and C–C coupling of the precursor by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) imaging and density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the molecular level. Our work provides an additional strategy for controlling the on-surface polymerization, which is of great relevance to the construction of novel nanostructures.