| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division | Thursday Sessions |
| Session NS-ThM |
| Session: | Molecular Assembly and Devices |
| Presenter: | Miaomiao Luo, University of California, Riverside |
| Authors: | M. Luo, University of California, Riverside W. Lu, University of California, Riverside E. Chu, University of California, Riverside D. Kim, University of California, Riverside Z. Cheng, University of California, Riverside D. Sun, University of California, Riverside K. Cohen, University of California, Riverside Y. Zhu, University of California, Riverside J. Wyrick, University of California, Riverside T.L. Einstein, University of Maryland, College Park L. Bartels, University of California, Riverside |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
As part of a bottom-up strategy, molecular self assembly can be a promising technique to create surface patterns with ultimately small feature sizes in an economic efficient fashion. Understanding of the factors which guide molecules into different patterns thus become an important goal for prediction and control of molecular patterns structures.
Here we present the formation of interlocked arrays (‘gear chains’) of pinwheels through self-assembly of 3-phenyl-propynenitrile (PPN) molecules on a Cu(111) surface. Variable temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) reveals upon molecular deposition a pattern of small hexagonal features, which coalesce into sequences of larger, interlocking pinwheel-shaped structures. The pinwheels have an outer diameter as large as ~4nm. The driving force of this entropically disfavored pinwheel formation is discussed.