Functional Molecular Nanopatterns on Surfaces

Steven De Feyter

Control of the lateral assembly and spatial arrangement of molecules on surfaces is the subject of intensive research, because it potentially allows these surfaces to become functional, e.g. conductive, catalytically active, porous, chiral, etc.

Thanks to the success of single-crystal X-ray crystallography an enormous amount of information on molecular networks in conventional crystals is available and this database supports the application of 3D crystals as solid-state materials. However, at surfaces, this crystal engineering concept has not been fully exploited yet. Scanning probe techniques are the techniques of choice to unravel the structure and properties of two-dimensional (2D) molecular patterns.

I will focus on the formation of such regular molecular nanopatterns induced by physisorption, their structure and functionality.

Topics which will be addressed include:

From patterns…
• What drives molecules to order on surfaces and how to control the ordering? To what extent can one rely on supramolecular chemistry and how to exploit molecule-substrate and, at the liquid-solid interface, molecule-solvent interactions to make molecular patterns? What is the precision and periodicity we can achieve? What do we know about molecular dynamics at interfaces?

…to function.
• What about multicomponent mixtures and host-guest chemistry?
• Are these 2D layers of any use for molecular electronics?
• Can one induce and follow reactions with submolecular resolution?

Some references:
Supramolecular Networks on Surfaces: From 2D Crystal Engineering to Reactivity
J. A. A. W. Elemans, S. Lei and S. De Feyter, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009 (in press)

Two-dimensional crystal engineering at the liquid-solid interface
S. Furukawa and S. De Feyter
Topics in Current Chemistry, 2009, 287, 87 - 135

Structure and function revealed with submolecular resolution at the liquid-solid interface
J. A. A. W. Elemans, S. De Feyter
Soft Matter, 2009, 5, 721 - 735