Room temperature stable film formation of ?-conjugated organic molecules on 3d magnetic substrate.
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ABSTRACT: An important step toward molecule-based electronics is to realize a robust and well-ordered molecular network at room temperature. To this end, one key challenge is tuning the molecule-substrate electronic interactions that influence not only the molecular selfassembly but also the stability of the resulting structures. In this study, we investigate the film formation of ?-conjugated metal-free phthalocyanine molecules on a 3d-bcc-Fe(001) whisker substrate at 300 K by using ultra-high-vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy. On bare Fe(001), hybridization between the molecular ? and the Fe(001) d-states prevents the molecular assembly, resulting in the disordered patchy structures. The second- and third-layer molecules form densely packed films, while the morphologies show clear difference. The second-layer molecules partially form p(5?×?5)-ordered films with the rectangular edges aligned along the [100] and [010] directions, while the edges of the third-layer films are rounded. Remarkably, such film morphologies are stable even at 300 K. These findings suggest that the molecular self-assembly and the resulting morphologies in the second and third layers are affected by the substrate bcc(001), despite that the Fe-d states hybridize only with the first-layer molecules. The possible mechanism is discussed with the kinetic Monte Carlo simulation.
SUBMITTER: Inami E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5762783 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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