Issue 17, 2016

Two-dimensional self-assembly of benzotriazole on an inert substrate

Abstract

The ultra-high vacuum (UHV) room temperature adsorption of benzotriazole (BTAH), a well-known corrosion inhibitor for copper, has been investigated on the pristine Au(111) surface using a combination of surface sensitive techniques. The dimensionality of the molecule is reduced from the 3D crystal structure to a 2-dimensional surface confinement, which induces the formation of hydrogen bonded 1-dimensional molecular chains consisting of alternating pro-S and pro-R enantiomers mainly. The 0-dimensional system is characteristic of gas-phase BTAH, which undergoes a tautomeric equilibrium, with consequences for the resulting adsorbed species. The balance between hydrogen bonding, inter-chain van der Waals interactions and surface–molecule interactions, and the correlation with the dimensionality of the system, are discussed in light of the experimental results and a computational description of the observed features.

Graphical abstract: Two-dimensional self-assembly of benzotriazole on an inert substrate

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 jan. 2016
Accepted
24 mar. 2016
First published
25 mar. 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 9167-9177

Author version available

Two-dimensional self-assembly of benzotriazole on an inert substrate

F. Grillo, J. A. Garrido Torres, M.-J. Treanor, C. R. Larrea, J. P. Götze, P. Lacovig, H. A. Früchtl, R. Schaub and N. V. Richardson, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 9167 DOI: 10.1039/C6NR00821F

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