Electrospray Deposition of Complex Molecules towards Functional Molecular Assemblies
Antoine Hinaut
University of Basel, Switzerland
Functional molecular material built up by self assembly on surfaces in ultra high vacuum require rationally designed complex and equipped elementary building blocks. With increasing complexity of this building block, new features can be achieved in the molecular assemblies.
A well-established method to allow high-resolution scanning probe microscopy (SPM) studies of such large and complex molecular structures on surfaces with the necessary cleanliness and reasonable control over the coverage is electrospray deposition in high vacuum (HVESD) [1].
In this talk, I will present our recent investigation on solution synthesized large molecules and their possible 2D assemblies. At first, using room and low temperature SPM investigation combined to MD calculations, molecular network exhibiting thermal expansion properties are presented [2].
In a second part, solution synthesized graphene nanoribbons are investigated in UHV on different surfaces. Especially, the possibility to deposit them on non-catalytic surfaces is presented [3].
[1] Hinaut, A. et al. Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12 (1), 552–558.
[2] Scherb, S. et al. Commun Mater 2020, 1 (1), 1–7.
[3] Scherb, S. et al. ACS Nano 2023, 17 (1), 597–605.