THE NANOSCALE SPIDER-WEB: A MOLECULAR SELF-ASSEMBLY DUE TO SUBSTRATE-MOLECULE INTERACTIONS

摘要: One of the currently most active fields of research in Surface Science is the study of the selfassembling properties of relatively complex organic species. In solution or gas phase the geometry of the self-assembled nano-structures depends exclusively on the specific interactions between peripheral functional groups of the self-assembling molecules. On the other hand, for molecules adsorbed on a solid surface, the role of the surface cannot be neglected, and the resulting 2D molecular arrangement is the consequence of a subtle balance between molecule-substrate and molecule-molecule interactions, but very few cases (involving either vicinal [1] or chemically heterogeneous [2] surfaces) have been reported where the substrate dictates almost uniquely the 2D arrangement.