Manipulating the conformation of single organometallic chains on Au(111)

Saywell, Alexander; Greń, Wojciech; Franc, Grégory; Gourdon, André; Bouju, Xavier; Grill, Leonhard

Abstract

The conformations of organometallic polymers formed via the bottom-up assembly of monomer units on a metal surface are investigated, and the relationship between the adsorption geometry of the individual monomer units, the conformational structure of the chain, and the overall shape of the polymer is explored. Iodine-functionalized monomer units deposited on a Au(111) substrate are found to form linear chain structures in which each monomer is linked to its neighbors via a Au adatom. Lateral manipulation of the linear chains using a scanning tunneling microscope allows the structure of the chain to be converted from a linear to a curved geometry, and it is shown that a transformation of the overall shape of the chain is coupled to a conformational rearrangement of the chain structure as well as a change in the adsorption geometry of the monomer units within the chain. The observed conformational structure of the curved chain is well-ordered and distinct from that of the linear chains. The structures of both the linear and curved chains are investigated by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy measurements and theoretical calculations.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 24, 2013
• Journal: Journal of Physical Chemistry C
• Print ISSN: 1932-7447
• Electronic ISSN: 1932-7455
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 118
• Issue: 3
• APA6 Citation: Saywell, A., Greń, W., Franc, G., Gourdon, A., Bouju, X., & Grill, L. (2013). Manipulating the conformation of single organometallic chains on Au(111). Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 118(3), doi:10.1021/jp409323g
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jp409323g
• Keywords: Scanning tunneling microscopy, Manipulation, Self-assembly, Metal-organic frameworks, On-surface synthesis, Molecular conformations
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp409323g
• Copyright Statement: Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://eprints.nottingh.../end_user_agreement.pdf
• Additional Information: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Journal of Physical Chemistry C, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp409323g